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Joint press release from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, ITV and Sky

Following confirmation that the General Election has been called for Thursday 6 May – ITV, Sky News and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ can confirm the transmission dates of the first ever televised Prime Ministerial Debates between the leaders of the three biggest political parties.

All three debates will be broadcast in mid-evening slots in front of a studio audience selected by ICM. Members of the audience will be able to put questions to Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg directly. Viewers are also able to submit their own questions in advance by email via the addresses below.

Each of the programmes has a pre-determined theme for half of its airtime, with the remaining time open to questions on any election issue.

The First Election Debate will be broadcast on ITV1 on Thursday 15 April from 8.30-10.00pm. Its themed section will be on domestic affairs and it will take place in the North West of England. The debate will be moderated by Alastair Stewart. Viewers can submit questions via email at: debate@itv.com.

The second debate, The Sky News Debate, will be broadcast on Sky News on Thursday 22 April from 8.00-9.30pm. Its themed section will be on international affairs and it will take place in the South West of England. The debate will be moderated by Adam Boulton. Viewers can submit questions via skynews.com/debatequestion.

The final debate, The Prime Ministerial Debate, will be broadcast on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One on Thursday 29 April from 8.30-10.00pm. Its themed section will be on economic affairs and it will take place in the Midlands. The debate will be moderated by David Dimbleby. Viewers can submit questions via bbc.co.uk/election.

The broadcasters drew lots to determine the order of the debates and the allocation of themes. Representatives of the parties drew lots to determine the order of speaking. Mr Clegg will open the first debate, Mr Brown will open the second and Mr Cameron will do so in the third programme.

Notes to Editors

The parties and broadcasters have agreed to a set of rules governing the debates. Each party leader will have the opportunity to make an opening statement on the programme's theme before tackling questions. Each leader will answer all of the questions, and be allowed rebuttal time to react to their opponents' answers and make further points of their own. A period of free debate may then follow. They will not have any prior notice of the questions.

Statements, answers and rebuttals are all subject to time restrictions – usually one minute but with a longer closing statement of 1 minute 30 seconds at the end of each programme. The broadcasters have agreed to give each leader equal treatment during the programmes, and the primary role of the moderator is to ensure fairness within the agreed rules.

Questions will be chosen by an editorial panel of senior journalists, including the moderator, within each broadcasting company. Questions may be submitted for consideration up to and including the day of the live transmission. The membership of these panels will be made public, but they will meet in private.

Each broadcaster will make its own arrangements about separate and additional debates taking place in Scotland and Wales and the coverage of other parties in the Election.

The Broadcaster Panel was made up of two representatives from each network – Sue Inglish and Ric Bailey from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, Michael Jermey and Jonathan Munro from ITV, and Chris Birkett and Jonathan Levy from Sky News.

The full rules for the debates are available online via each broadcaster's website.

The membership of each of the editorial panels, which will select the questions, is available online on the relevant broadcaster's site.

KR