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Telegraph, Guardian and YouTube offer to host 5-way online general election debate

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

January 9, 2015 | 2 min read

The Telegraph, the Guardian and YouTube have come together to offer to host a five-party general election online debate after Prime Minister David Cameron refused to participate in a televised broadcast which excludes the Green Party.

PM shuns debates following Green exclusion

Following Cameron’s refusal to engage in the televised broadcasts jointly proposed by the BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 where he would have gone toe-to-toe with the leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Ukip, the Telegraph, in collaboration with the Guardian and YouTube, offered to broadcast a debate online featuring the Green Party.

The publication announced online: “To break the deadlock over leaders' pre-election clashes, The Telegraph is offering to host a digital debate between the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems, Ukip -- and the Greens.”

“The invitation for the Greens and Ukip to take part in Britain’s first online leaders' debate comes after Ofcom, the media regulator, effectively barred the Greens from taking part in proposed debates to be hosted by conventional broadcasters like the BBC.”

Broadcast regulator Ofcom on Thursday deemed that the Green party’s one MP, was not enough to grant them the ‘major party status’ required to partake in a political broadcast. Furthermore, this definition also excluded The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.

The offer was issued by the newspaper after Prime Minister David Cameron announced he will not take part in televised debates excluding the Green Party.

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