2015 Election and the Leaders Debates

That's debatable - while I appreciate that people vote for a single MP, you're surely voting for the party which has the policies that you want to see enacted, rather than individuals?

That's why the smaller parties are fighting to get heard, because despite what Cameron and Milliband both are saying, the likelihood of majority government is very small indeed, and it's going to be important to know what the smaller parties stand for.

I suspect it relates to the fact his was approached by the Conservatives to stand as their candidate in the next London Mayoral election.
Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30248005

In other news...
TV election debates: BBC rejects DUP demand to be included
Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31029232

I'm guessing the reasoning is in part explained in the penultimate paragraph...

...thus if DUP were included they'd also have to invite the other three, meaning even more candidates in the debate. I think Northern Ireland would probably be best dealt with better via separate (additional) debate with only the relevant parties. Worth glancing at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/region/6.stm for the 2010 results.

Personally I'd have thought it might have been better to have the two debates (BBC & ITV) as follows...
- Debate 1: Conservatives, Labour, Lib-Dems, UKIP and Greens
- Debate 2: Conservatives, Labour, Lib-Dems, UKIP, Plaid Cymru, SNP, and Greens

But that's true in much of Europe, yet virtually all European countries have televised debates featuring party leaders.

If that was the case, no independent or minor party candidate would ever have been elected. People do often vote based on local issues - indeed I'm considering voting for the sitting MP here because he has been effective on some local matters I consider important, even thought his party is not one that I would ordinarily support.

How many independent candidates were elected in 2005?

Shouldn't every independent candidate be included in these debates then?

2. One of whom was replaced by another independent in a by-election in 2006 following his death.

No. The debates are on national issues, not local ones. What is the point of including a candidate that 649/650 of constituencies can't vote for?



I doubt either of those cases would have been affected by a debate, looking at the circumstances upon which they were elected. It's even debatable that there were two independents (as only one was not part of a political party).

The issue of whether Independents are affected by debates is very similar to whether or not they'll be affected by PR electoral systems. Independents are often not affected as much as people would assume by either of these issues - In Northern Ireland they have one Independent MLA despite using STV for the election. This is partly because people don't vote all on national issues or all on local issues but vote on both so their choice in the ballot box reflects a combination of the two.

Furthermore how many Independents are elected depends on how you define the term. In 2005 it could be argued that two independents were elected but equally that no independents were elected. Blaenau Gwent People's Voice and Health Concern were both registered parties which some media organisations list as independent and others don't (Similar to the speaker). If you define the term as a candidate not affiliated to a registered political party then none were elected - whereas one was elected in 2010. If you define an independent as someone is not aligned to a party or whose party only fields candidates in one area then 2 were elected, although BGPV did later field candidates in neighbouring constituencies in the Sennedd elections and Health Concern later formed the NHA party.

Peter Law didn't seek election as part of Blaenau Gwent People's Voice.

People will occasionally register local "protest" votes. But it is hardly representative.

Let's be honest about this - in the vast majority of cases, voting in a general election is about voting for the party you want to see in power in the next parliament.

Local issues really are for local government.

I think for a lot of people it's about voting for the party you think has the best chance of beating the party you don't want to win.