Deal reached on TV leadership election debates

Labour leader Ed Miliband has said the Prime Minister "is running scared" over TV debates after it was confirmed that the two leaders will not take part in a head-to-head programme before the general election.

Mr Miliband and the Prime Minister will take part in a live Q&A session with an audience on a Channel 4/Sky News programme on March 26th but they will appear separately at Mr Cameron's request.

Mr Miliband said the format of that show puts Mr Cameron in "a ridiculous position."

Plaid Cymru's leader has welcomed a final decision being made on the dates for the TV leadership election debates, but stated she thinks it "falls short of the original proposals."

Leanne Wood said:

Here is the final line-up of televised election debates and programmes as announced by the broadcasters:

March 26th: A live 90-minute question and answer session with David Cameron and Ed Miliband on Channel 4 and Sky News.

The Conservative and Labour leaders will be interviewed separately by former Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman, before Sky News anchor Kay Burley moderates questions from the audience. Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband will not, however, debate with each other.

April 2nd: Seven party leaders - Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, Ukip's Nigel Farage, Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, Natalie Bennett of the Greens and Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood - will take part in a live two-hour debate.

The programme on ITV will be presented by Julie Etchingham.

April 16th: The leaders of Labour, Ukip, the SNP, the Greens and Plaid Cymru in a BBC debate moderated by David Dimbleby.

April 30th: Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg to be quizzed separately by the audience in a Question Time special on BBC1, hosted by Mr Dimbleby.

The Green Party has welcomed a final decision on the dates for TV leadership debates ahead of the general election.

A debate with the seven party leaders will be broadcast on ITV on April 2nd.

David Cameron and Ed Miliband will take part in a live Q&A programme on Channel 4 and Sky News on March 26th but they will not have a debate.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said: "I welcome the fact that we now finally appear to have reached the end of the debate about the debates.

"David Cameron's intransigence has delayed this process, and taken away space in which we might have been debating the future of Britain - our low-pay, insecure jobs, the privatisation of our NHS, the urgency of cutting carbon emissions.

"Nonetheless, we can now move on, in the new age of multi-party politics in Britain."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has called the ongoing TV leadership debate row "an utter farce" after broadcasters confirmed dates for the programmes including a show featuring David Cameron and Ed Miliband but without a debate.

Mr Farage said: "Essentially they are no longer what anyone could sensibly call Leaders' Debates. It's an utter farce."

The final line-up follows years of wrangling between parties and broadcasters over whether and how to repeat the debates from the 2010 election campaign - which saw Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg face each other three times.

Mr Cameron rejected previous proposals on the basis they did not include the Green party, and insisted the sessions should not take place during the short election campaign that starts on March 30th.

However, last week he appeared to surprise other parties and the broadcasters by announcing that he had accepted plans for the seven-way debate on April 2nd and had agreed to participate in a variety of other programmes.

The Labour Party has accused David Cameron of "cowardice" over his decision not to debate with Ed Miliband during a special leadership programme in the run up to the general election.

Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband have agreed to separate interviews and a Q&A session with an audience on Channel 4 and Sky News on March 26th, but they will be on the stage separately and will not take part in a debate.

In a statement Labour said the two broadcasters did not want to have a head-to-head debate without the Prime Minister and so had proposed to change the format.