Election debate: tough challenge for Miliband?
A dog takes a rest on the Labour campaign trail earlier today
Tonight is going to be a difficult night for Ed Miliband. Standing alone without his fellow “Westminster elite” party leaders, Nick Clegg and David Cameron he could be vulnerable.
Faced with three opponents who are vociferously further left than he will want to present himself leaves him at risk of being ganged up on or drowned out by the female leaders. They have made no secret of the fact that many of their policies dove-tail and will be determined to powerfully present their shared anti-austerity agenda.
Nigel Farage meanwhile, should be on comfortable ground, the only right wing voice in the face of parties his core voters are unlikely to vote for. He is likely to make a pitch for any wavering Conservative voters on the right of the party and will be less concerned with attacks from the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru on his more controversial policies.
David Cameron has never been keen on the debates and is believed to have refused point blank to go head to head with Ed Miliband. A long and tumultuous negotiation between the parties followed.
The result: this “challenger debate”, alongside a seven-way party debate broadcast last week, individual leader interviews on Channel 4 News at the end of last month and a series of separate appearances to be broadcast a week before the election.
Commentators have said that as polls show that the public see Mr Cameron as more prime ministerial than Mr Miliband the Conservative leaders sees little to gain from public debates.