The Election WILL be Televised

Tonight (4 June) the Leaders of the Conservative and Labour Parties will go head to head in the first UK wide televised debate of the General Election campaign. Negotiations have been underway to agree the number, dates and format of televised debates since the election was announced by Rishi Sunak at the end of May.

Confirmed so far:

📺 ITV - Leaders Head to Head TV Debate (Tuesday 4 June)
📺 BBC - Senior Party Reps. TV Debate (Friday 7 June)
📺 BBC - Senior Party Reps. TV Debate (Thurs 20 June)
📺 BBC - Leaders Head to Head TV Debate (Wed 26 June)

Unlike in the US where televised debates date back to the 1960’s, they remain a relatively new phenomenon in the UK with the first taking place during the 2010 election. Prior to this there had been calls from various sides over the years to televise debates but consensus was never established between the two main parties and they never materialised.

Negotiations in 2010 were complex and the ultimate agreement between parties had multiple caveats including provisions that audience must be nationally representative, the leaders of the Conservatives, there would be no audience close-ups while a Leader was speaking and half of each debate must be themed around a policy area.

This time around there are set to be at least 4 televised debates between various party representatives ahead of the election. Two of these including ITVs debate tonight and the BBC’s final debate on 26 June will be head-to-head ‘prime ministerial’ features with only Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer - the Leaders of the two main parties taking part.

By contrast the BBC debate on 7th June will be a wide-ranging debate with representatives from all 7 major parties contesting the election - Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dem, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Green & Reform. Both the Conservatives and Labour have said their leaders will not be taking part in this debate and will be represented by Penny Mordant and Angela Rayner respectively. Nigel Farage who announced his candidacy in Clacton this week as well as taking over as leader of the Reform Party will almost certainly take part.

Sky News, LBC, Talk TV and GB News have also proposed debates but these are yet to be agreed. Sky have suggested they will host a debate in the marginal seat of Grimsby on 12 June but the format is yet to be decided with Labour suggesting Keir Starmer will engage in debate with an audience of voters, rather than his Conservative counterpart.

There will also be additional dedicated debates in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Last night the Scottish the leaders of the SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Liberal Democrats took part in the event in Glasgow broadcast on STV.