It would seem according to snap polls taken after the seven party debate hosted by ITV's Julie Etchingham that no one party leader had impressed the 7 million viewers who purportedly tuned into the debate. Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP did stand out though according to some sources for her down to earthness and reportedly telling a French diplomat that she thought David Cameron was more Prime Minister material than Ed Milliband, something she subsequently denied on Twitter. Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru had male admirers on Twitter swooning to her lilting Welsh voice and she won many admirers on the left when she tackled UKIP's Nigel Farage on his scaremongering about foreigners.
Ed Milliband and David Cameron exchanged words as they looked into the camera (especially Ed Milliband) addressing those at home as if it was a party election broadcast rather than a debate between seven political parties. Nick Clegg for his part was trying to distance himself and his party the Lib-Dems from the harshness of the coalition when it came to welfare and public service cutbacks, Natalie Bennett highlighted the plight of people on benefits how they had been scapegoated by the media as if they were all scroungers.
Nigel Farage for his part highlighted that the UK while a member of the EU could do nothing about eastern Europeans coming into Britain and also highlighted two other important points: that of health tourism and that of rich people getting all the better jobs and people from less advantaged backgrounds who were not doing so well in this field.
All party leaders discussed housing and the fact that many younger people today in the UK are forced into the private renting sector where landlords can charge astronomical amounts of rent each month, and how things today are a lot tougher for young people than it was for the previous generation as regards getting on the housing ladder for example.
The audience in the studio consisted of people from every walk of life and age, and selected members of the audience were allowed to ask questions to the party leaders and interact with them. Julie Etchingham then brought proceedings to a close and the party leaders shook hands and so the debate was over.
The two main parties (Labour and Conservative) are being very coy as to who they would go into government with should it be a hung parliament as it probably will be unless one party at the last minute has a sudden surge and can gain a majority government.
