TV Debate - who did best?

I'm no expert about how % share of the vote would actually translate to the number of seats in Parliament but, as I understand it, because the LibDem vote would be spread out amongst the consituencies (having less of a 'heartland' than the other two parties) their % would be high but their number of seats would not. So the LibDems and Tories could (theoretically) get the same % of the vote, but the Tories would have many more seats.

Anyone else know more about this?

Quick read here would seem to suggest NC followed by GB. Is that the feel? I woul agree. My politics are towards the left and I was going to vote Lib but now will vote labour who are best placed to beat tories here. A tactical vote hoping for hung parl.

Eddie Izzard!!!

It was very interesting to hear about the new internet developments though - I'm noticing that Mr Brown does seem to know stuff. Would all this really happen? It would be great if it did.

The ComRes poll was fascinating 3 points down for both Labour and Conservative (although I guess their sample must have had Conservatives on 40% before which seems a little higher than I'd previously heard and Labour on 29% which seems a little lower I thought it was more 38% against 32%) - all added to the LibDems.

How would that play out?

Lol Laugs, yes he did mention Sheffield rather alot.

I was very impressed by NC, not really knowing what to expect from him - perhaps that is why he has generally come out so well. I particularly liked the fact that he seemed to be the only one recognising that we seriously need to address public sector pay and the seemingly endless list of civil servants
GB takes alot of flak for what is, let's be honest, a global recession. It is far too easy to blame the party in power when the chips are down and again, his plans for bringing us out of recession have also been adopted by many of the world's leaders. I think too many people judge him by what is told to us in the media. I think a ringing endorsement of his policies by other world leaders is far more impressive than the (entirely predictable) endorsement of the conservatives by big business. I mean, who saw that coming?
The thing that annoyed me most about DC was his banging on about the planned rise in NI being 'a tax on jobs'. Well, I am an employer of 13 people and do not consider it to be so. It is National insurance, paying for our healthcare and our pensions. He is being entirely misleading when he calls it tax.

It definitely cleared a few things up for me.

Did anyone catch where NC's constituency is?

I am still going to vote Green but was very impressed with Mr Clegg.

Cameron is just crashingly posh, he hasnt a clue how the other half lives.

I thought GB came across surprisingly well, especially during the summing up.

He made a good case for NOT slashing public sector jobs. All very well for DC to talk about cutting the public sector to the bone, but this means destroying the livelihood of many thousands of the "decent hard-working families" so beloved of the Tories. We need to remember the utterly de-stabilising effect of mass unemployment on families and communities during the 1980's.

DS was dire. He kept referring to Business and Industry Leaders as if their opinions and needs are the only ones that count. The whole "increase in NI" issue is a red herring. And his scare-mongering Daily Mail-style anecdotes just confirmed that the Tores think us plebs are dumb as a bag of spanners.

Problem for DC is that American-style (small "c") conservative fiscal policies as followed by both Tories and Labour over the last 20 years have got us into this mess, thanks to the decisions made by an unregulated financial sector. Why should we still believe that a free market economic model will get us out of the hole, when the events of the last 2 years have demonstrated otherwise? The state has had to bale out the financial sector with OUR money. That's why we have such a huge budget deficit.

NC came across as sincere and intelligent, though he fluffed it a bit at the end, too hesitant and his inexperience showed up. He still has our vote though, we are in a LD safe seat with an excellent MP.

Labour have finally lost my vote thanks to the Iraq/Afghanistan issue. Did anyone else find the figures quoted as necessary to maintain our military presence overseas utterly, mind-boggingly awful? What on earth are we doing there?

I was undecided before the debate and have decided to vote Lib Dem, not for any other reason but that a hung parliament would force electoral reform and proportional representation.

Any of them could do the job though, but together they could do it better IMHO.

I just saw a set of polls on the news - they were very different weren't they?

I heard someone on the Radio say that Conservative support is very 'solid' and they tend to be unswayed by events so that is why when they have focus groups the Conservatives can seem to do better.

Perhaps that's why the more independent text poll was more in tune with what people are saying on the web and the media.

PinkFuschia,

I'd like to see more policy clarifications and for the participants to answer more of the worries that people have about the plans individual parties have.

I'd love it if candidates showed signs of taking concerns on board.

I do understand that we need to get out of the recession but I'd like the needs of the population to be registered and acknowledged.

Scarlet FWIW as an undecided voter I think you should watch the other two debates and then vote for the party whose policies are closest to what you want for yourself, your family, your community and our country. I live in a safe Tory seat, but will be voting Lib Dem as they are the party that most closely represent my own views and beliefs.

If everyone who thought that a vote for the LibDems is a wasted vote ACTUALLY voted for them, then, whilst they might not get many more seats under the current flawed electoral system, they WOULD get a substantial share of the vote; which at best (for me) could result in a hung parliament. Then there would HAVE to be a change to the voting system (GB alluded to it last night and it has always been LibDem policy to change the voting system). A change in the voting system would FINALLY mean that a vote for a party other than the 'Big Two' might actually make a difference.

ScarletBandit- that DC knows how to be a good time boy?

Just saw the pic of DC with Peter Stringfellow.
What on earth does he add to DC's election campaign?

I think Nick Clegg came out of it the best, but as an undecided voter, I still wonder whether my vote is worth sending in his direction.
It really is a two horse race isn't it?

I am not keen on GB as a person, but he did seem to know what he was talking about when it came to facts and policies, whereas DC seemed to falter several times.

I think I will end up making my decision at the last minute on polling day. I have voted Labour in the past, but really don't know this time.

Oh Molesworth, I've just got back from my latest chores to see that!! - What could have possessed him?

Maybe they will relax more in the next debates - this must be better than listening to speeches at the local town hall with only a handful of people turning up. Maybe this will help stop the apathy. My 14 year old son was interested enough to watch - I wondered if he thought that someone would get voted off at the end of round one - DC with any luck as he was quite slimy.

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Lib Dem, so last night's debate wasn't really going to change my mind, and it didn't. I thought that NC came across as passionate and honest.

What I wanted to ask other MNetters is what would you like to see in the other debates? More 'performance' or more substantial policy detail and debate? I'm kind of torn on this because, whilst I would like to hear more detail about policy (how the Tories are going to persuade GPs to work 12 hours a day for 7 days a week for example, and how they are going to find and fund the extra doctors necessary to fulfil this election pledge) I do think a debate on detailed policy would turn into a complete yawn-fest. Having said that, how are the undecideds or floating voters going to be able to make up their minds if the debates just allow the party leaders to talk about their policies in thirty second soundbites?

FWIW I thought that GB was much better than I thought he would be (although he needs to stop kissing up to NC so obviously!) and that DC was dreadfully smarmy and insincere.

found their constant 'when I went to visit x' comments irritating.

This was a bit like the school play. Nick Clegg performed well as a bright eyed bushy tailed schoolboy. Cameron was the creepy Prefect who's a quiet bully - did you see how he went red from the collar up whenever he was angry - or trying to hide being angry. Gordon Brown was the old style Headmaster - complete with all the gravitas and policy.

Bourbon- GB was one of the main forces behind Surestart. Having lived in the inner city and worked in the public sector, I have seen our area change significantly over the past 10 years. From being a bit of a no go area, it has become a pretty desirable area to live. I firmly believe Surestart has played a significant part in this turnaround, and that the policy was well thought out and planned. It was also based on a real desire to change things for the people normally at the bottom of our society's pile. That is integrity.

I just can't imagine DC EVER having the intelligence, foresight,experience or knowledge to be involved in such social policy making.

x-posted with gagamama

I also snurked at the 'I was talking to a black man the other day' - a 40-yr-old black man who had been in the Royal Navy for 30 years, apparently. Didn't know we still had cabin boys.

Cameron made a couple of errors like that - I think he was the most nervous, which surprised me.

This is who DC reminds me of