Politics

BBC Challengers Debate: five things you need to know

What we learned from tonight's debate, and how it influenced the campaign

April 16, 2015
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Tonight, Labour's Ed Miliband went head to head with the other main political parties who are challenging the governing Coalition parties.

Here are the five key things you need to know about what went on.

Ed didn't crumble The Tories hoped that tonight's set up would make Ed look weak. With Cameron safely out of the fray, they hoped to see the Labour leader pummelled from the left and right. The Tory line on the debates has focused on the "chaos" of the battle, and how this evening offered voters a taste of the discord and confusion they could expect from any lefty alliance, however informal, between Labour, the SNP or the Greens. In the event, though, Miliband wasn't seriously challenged on policy. Instead, he had a rare opportunity to look serious, relaxed and competent, even at one point allowing Natalie Bennett to go ahead of him during a heated exchange.

Cameron didn't escape Miliband used his closing statement to stare straight down the camera and repeat his offer of a head-to-head debate with the Prime Minister—one which he and most voters know has been roundly rejected. It was a well-executed bid to emphasise Cameron's absence from the proceedings and make the Prime Minister look like he was running scared. "Why is David Cameron not at the debate?" was the second most-asked question on Google during the evening. But the Prime Minister's lack of a platform will have damaged him for another reason—not having the government represented allowed all five leaders to band together in demolishing its record. During an exchange on housing, for example, the average viewer would have been left with the impression that the current government barely builds anything at all. A Conservative email to journalists claiming that "council house starts are at their highest for 23 years" won't have done as much to change that as Cameron making that point onstage would have.

Sturgeon set out her stall In contrast to her performance at the last debate, which was all about introducing the SNP message to the wider British public, tonight Nicola Sturgeon made her pitch to Ed Miliband for a post-election deal. In some ways, she showed journalists and other close observers the weakness of her position—she's ruled out doing anything to prop up a Tory government, which means she would have to support Labour in a confidence vote, and Ed Miliband did a good job of ruling out scrapping Trident, which is Sturgeon's condition for a more extensive arrangement. But what many Labour voters after May 7 will remember was Sturgeon's challenge to Miliband as to whether he would "rather go back into opposition" than deal with the SNP. If the post-election mathematics stacks up, he will feel pressure to work with her rather than be remembered as the Labour leader who ushered in another five years of Tory rule.

Plaid Cymru flopped Tonight's debate flagged somewhat, as three of the five parties (Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Greens) have effectively banded together, pledging to forge a progressive alliance in parliament to move government to the left on issues like Trident. The leader who suffered most from this was Leanne Wood, who lacks Sturgeon's flair and, unlike Bennett, couldn't claim to represent most of the programme's viewers—she found herself crowded out, struggling to be heard. At one point, she came close to scoring a point, when she went for Miliband over the Welsh NHS (its troubled state under a Labour-run administration has been a key Tory line of attack in the past year). All she could come out with, though, was a claim that it is "not good, y'know," a volley which Miliband had no trouble ducking. Sometimes, being a slick, "professional" politician—with the briefings and well-rehearsed stats that entails—can be useful...

Bennett and Farage cut to the core Tonight could have seen Natalie Bennett and Nigel Farage—granted a little extra breathing space—go for a wider appeal. That didn't happen; both went straight to their core voters. Farage alienated the studio audience early on with a slightly paranoid claim that the BBC had selected left wingers to watch (deftly and firmly denied by presenter Jonathan Dimbleby). But his strident rhetoric in favour of solid defence spending, his attacks on New Labour's immigration record and his calls for British sovereignty were all good, traditional Ukip fodder. Bennett, meanwhile, took every opportunity she could to emphasise her differences with Labour on issues like welfare and austerity, and make sure she got through to her core student constituency with repeated offers of free tuition.

The verdict: one for the anoraks only, this was a rather limp affair which saw no clear winners or losers. A social media analysis by Oxford University's Dr Karo Moilanen found the volume of tweets overall was far lower than during the previous seven way debate, suggesting viewers found it hard to get particularly exercised.