MORE than four-fifths of the UK public who want to see televised General Election debates think that all parties – not only the Tories and Labour – should take part, according to new polling.
The YouGov survey, which was published on Tuesday, found that a huge 81% of people disagree with Keir Starmer’s reported demands that he debate Rishi Sunak alone, without any other party representatives present.
Just 17% of people said they thought that televised General Election debates should only be between Starmer and Sunak.
The news comes after Starmer agreed to debate the Tory leader on live TV on only two occasions, once on the BBC and once on ITV, and on the condition that no other parties would be allowed to take part.
Multiple outlets reported that Starmer had indicated he would only appear in a head-to-head debate – without the presence of any smaller parties such as the SNP, the LibDems, Greens or Reform.
Among those who say the debates should feature more than just the Labour and Tory leaders, 63% said LibDem leader Ed Davey should be included, 44% said Reform’s nominal leader Richard Tice, and 40% said both SNP leader John Swinney and Green Party of England and Wales co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.
A total of 31% said Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth should also be included.
The YouGov survey found that the plurality of people in the UK think the televised debates have an impact on how the parties perform at the election.
While only 6% think they have “a great deal” of impact, a further 41% believe they have “a fair amount of impact” on the eventual result. By contrast, 35% think they make little to no difference.
However, elsewhere in the YouGov poll the majority of people in the UK (63%) said they weren’t interested in watching TV debates anyway – while 33% said they would want to see them take place.
Asked how many televised debates there should be, 17% said two, 16% said three, and 13% said none at all.
Just 4% said they wanted to see five or more – an idea which has been mooted by the Tory team.
The YouGov survey asked 2128 British adults their views between May 27 and 28.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel