No clear winner in UK election debate

A ComRes post-debate poll for ITV News had on the UK general election TV debate last night had Ed Miliband, David Cameron and Nigel Farage tied in first place on 21%, with Sturgeon on 20%, Clegg on 9%, Bennett on 5% and Wood on 2%.

Farage told viewers he stood out from the other six leaders because he wanted to control immigration by withdrawing from the European Union. But he clashed with Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood, who accused him of “scaremongering” and said he should be ashamed of himself after he raised the issue of foreign nationals receiving HIV treatment on the NHS and said: “We’ve got to put our own people first”.

Cameron and Miliband clashed over the economy, as the Conservative leader brandished a copy of the letter left by Labour’s former Treasury minister Liam Byrne telling his coalition successor in 2010 there was “no money left”, and warned voters that the Labour leader wanted to “go into your monthly payslip… and take your money out because he thinks he can spend your money better than you.”

In a clear effort to bolster his credentials as an alternative premier, Miliband repeatedly described what he would do “if I am prime minister”. He accused the PM of wanting to talk about the past rather than the future, and said: “Some people will tell you that this is as good as it gets for Britain. I say Britain can do so much better than it has done over the last five years.”

After Cameron objected to broadcasters’ plans for three TV debates during the five-and-a-half week campaign, the ITV show marked the only occasion before May 7 when the Tory and Labour leaders will face each other.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg made clear that, in what has been the tightest election for a generation, he expects a hung parliament, telling voters that they will have to decide “who will work best with whom” in coalition and promising to “finish the job of balancing the books and doing so fairly”.