to think that the green party has been unfairly treated

[ReallyTired]

www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/13/leaders-debates-snp-green

I can understand that it would be hard to have a TV debate with five leaders, but the Green party has the same number of MPs as UKIP.

I feel a better solution would be for views to have a phone in vote on which three political parties they want represented in a TV debate. Then the Green party would at least have some chance of showcasing their views if viewers were interested.

I don't get it. Why would the SNP want to take part in a debate that is focused on the general election that covers the rest of the UK and not just Scotland?

If the TV companies thought they would get better ratings if they included the Green Party, then they would have been invited. UKIP must have done better on publicity than the greens.

Of course it's all about ratings.

Who is the head of the Green Party?

Exactly!!!

Ratings!

The SNP have representatives in the House of Commons and they have MPs. Its understandable that they want their voice heard on national TV. The General election is for the whole of the UK and not just England. We should look for ways to include Plaid Cymru, Sein Fein, the British National Party and Britain First.

I think a Jermany Kylie show with Alex Samond and all the other parties could be quite amusing. We could have a big brother/ X factor style/ I'm in the jungle get me out of here elimination in chav style.

The problem of course is that there is little interest in the SNP in England because we can't vote for them.

I think it's unfair that the Green Party and the SNP aren't being included. The SNP are now the third biggest party in the UK, overtaking the Lib Dems, who are still included.

Surely if enough people show their disapproval of including the main three parties and one fringe one, they'll have to include the others as well? By not allowing the Green Party to take part they're giving unfair coverage to UKIP and could be seen as backing them, by giving them publicity.

Including the Greens will also increase awareness of them and their policies, which can't be a bad thing. If UKIP are seen as a protest vote due to marketing themselves as the only alternative, maybe some potential UKIP voters would be swayed after realising that the Greens could orchestrate at least some change with more support.

The SNP has 6 MPs...it's disgraceful how much airtime is being given to UKIP over them in particular. I think the SNP is now also the third biggest party in the UK in terms of membership? Other than those of us in Scotland, don't the rest of the UK deserve to hear what this party has to say on matters affecting them? I can't see how any debate can include defence/trident, for example, if the rest if the UK aren't allowed to hear the SNP stance on this.

Is it really beyond these big broadcasters to work out a way of including each party with MPs in the debates? As I recall previous debates have been broken down into different sections anyway, so while it may not be appropriate to have the SNP debating on, say, education matters that don't affect Scotland, couldn't they sit that part out? I think this is something that us viewers could manage to get our heads around...no it won't be too difficult for us to follow, as I think was the response from one broadcaster yesterday!

I could well be wrong as I don't know much about politics, but isn't defence something that's not devolved? So I can't really see what difference it makes to me as someone living in England what the SNP have to say about it.

The SNP are never going to govern the whole of Britain, so I don't understand why they'd have a place in a debate about the general election.

There might be a point about including the Green Party, but they've been around for decades and are a bit wet lettuce, so I can't really see the point in including them either. If they had anything worthwhile to say to a large number of people, we'd have heard it by now.

There are lots of things like defence, economic decisions, national taxation. certain aspects of criminal law, the european union which are decided nationally rather than devolution. There needs to be a way of including minor parties and having an interesting debate. There aren't any major parties other than lib dems or the greens who are pro european. (I don't know about the SNP)

It would be great to see Alex Samond's response on the issue of votes for English representatives on English only issues. What is the role of the national parliment in a more devolved UK.

The SNP are committed to removing trident from Scotland whether independence ever comes or not, which is just one issue that the rest of the UK should be made more aware of. This would affect those living in the whole of the UK, as the country may end up with no nuclear weapons, or just nowhere to put them! Or they may put them in your backyard, which may or may not bother you...but I think there should at least be more transparency for everybody on that issue.

it matters what the SNP and other parties with MPs think because they are MPs in the government of the UK, therefore have a vote on issues that affect the UK (aswell as devolved issues obvs). It may only be important on closely fought issues, but the way the political landscape is changing it will likely become increasingly important. The idea of 2 or 3 main parties is fast becoming outdated, thankfully.

YANBU - this has really annoyed me. The Green Party have had an MP since the last general election and also have actual real policies that make sense unlike UKIP who are basically a one policy party.
The media seem to be obsessed with UKIP and the only reason that more people know who their leader is is because they get so much coverage.

There's a petition here

I would like to more parties get more coverage but if you go down this road, if the greens are allowed on the debate why not the BNP? They did get more than double the votes to what the greens got in the last election.

UKIP won the European elections
Got 25% of the vote in the council elections
And are polling a similar figure for the general election

The green party are strong in one area of the country

I think, for national TV coverage, they also need to factor in the number of seats where candidates for that party are standing.

Perhaps not known for sure, but how manyb seats are Greens and UKIP
likely to contest?

SNP, Sinn Fein and Plaid Cymru would probably not score enough seats fo national coverage. But of course there are specific channels covering those regions, and I can't see a reason why they shouldn't have coverage, in line with number o seats contested, on those.