The economy election on prime time

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE: Paul Waugh says there could still be debates on policy between Burnham v Lansley; Mandelson v Clarke; Balls v Gove; Miliband v Hague; Johnson v Grayling. And even Darling v Osborne. Brilliant.

Well done to Sky News for seizing the opportunity and for their successful campaign on securing the first general election TV debates between leaders, details of which have now been announced.

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will debate on three occasions, with each debate concentrating on key issues.

The first debate will concentrate on domestic affairs such as health and education and will take place in the north west of England, chaired by Alistair Stewart and broadcast on ITV1. Assuming a May 6th election, it will probably occur on Thursday, April 15th.

The second will occur in the south west and will focus on international affiars. It will be braodcast by Sky News from the south west, with Adam Boulton in the chair, and is likely to take place on Thursday 22nd April.

The final debate will be broadcast by BBC1 from the midlands and will cover the economy. It will be chaired by David Dimbleby and will probably occcur in the last full week before a May 6th election.

The leaders’ statements, answers and rebuttals will be subject to time restrictions – probably of about a minute, although Brown, Clegg and Cameron will also each have the opportunity to make a 90 second closing statement.

This is going to change the nature of the election campaign. Although speculation and analysis of who “wins” each debate will be swirling the media and blogosphere, the public will get to see the political leaders each concentrating on real, policy focused discussions which will in turn inform the way each is perceived to have performed on the night.

The economy debate will be particularly important. Likely to fall a week or so before election day, it will be dominated by each party’s response to the recession and the budget which is due around the end of March.

With the polls narrowing, with the experience of having appeared with Piers Morgan under his belt, and with Alastair Campbell ready to prepare Gordon Brown for the debates, I think the Prime Minister will perform well, and give Labour a final heave into the last week of campaigning.

I expect viewing figures will be high – at least 6 million for the first and last debates; and don’t underestimate the potential for these events to change the narrative of the short campaign drastically and in Labour’s favour.

Even Tim Montgomerie is worried. He says he’ll “be saying nothing about my party’s crazy agreement to election debates.”