Summary

  • The leaders of seven UK parties took part in a two-hour live televised election debate

  • It was the only debate of the campaign which will feature David Cameron and Ed Miliband

  • They clashed on a range of issues including the NHS, immigration and the deficit

  • Snap polls taken afterwards gave differing verdicts on the winner

  • There are 35 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Tom Moseley, Andrew McFarlane and Bernadette McCague

  1. Recap: Debate day round-up

    • The leaders of seven UK parties took part in a two-hour live televised election debate, clashing on a range of issues including the NHS, immigration and the deficit
    • It was the only debate of the campaign which will feature both David Cameron and Ed Miliband
    • Snap polls taken afterwards gave differing verdicts on the winner, with Nicola Sturgeon, Nigel Farage, Ed Miliband and David Cameron said to have impressed most - depending on the poll
    • The audience was encouraged not to clap or offer too much reaction. However one heckler did tackle the leaders on homelessness among armed forces veterans

  2. Performance analysis

    Iain Watson
    Political correspondent

    There was no "killer blow", says BBC political correspondent Iain Watson, who analyses how each of the leaders performed.

    Perhaps dividing lines were blurred by the very nature of a seven-way debate."

    Read more of Iain's analysis.

  3. Guardian front page

    GuardianGuardian

  4. £21bn welfare savings

    Reality Check

    One final check from the leaders' debate - David Cameron says his government has made £21bn of savings in welfare.

    This comes from analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility on the amount of savings or costs from introducing certain policy measures.

    The OBR estimated that £21bn would be saved by 2015-16 by implementing new policy measures on welfare, social security benefits and tax credits. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has produced its own estimate of welfare savings and puts the figure at more like £17bn.

    These figures relate to the amount saved compared with what would have happened if these policy changes hadn’t been implemented. It’s not the amount that the overall welfare spending has fallen. The IFS expects the amount spent on welfare in 2015-16 to be almost exactly the same as the amount spent in 2010-11 once the effects of inflation are removed.

  5. Telegraph front page

    TelegraphTelegraph

  6. The Times front page

    The TimesThe Times

  7. Independent front page

    Independent front pageIndependent

  8. NHS and politics

    Question Time is ending with a debate about the NHS. Why won't politicians sign up to a multi-party committee to stop it becoming a "political football", the panel is asked. Andy Burnham, Labour's health spokesman, says it should be accountable to Parliament but adds that "nobody signed up for" the reforms carried out by the coalition. You can't take politics out of the NHS completely, says Lib Dem Danny Alexander, because people have different views.

  9. Living wage

    Reality Check

    Here's another look at a claim made during the debate. Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said 20% of workers were being paid less than the "living wage" - a term used by campaigners to describe the sum an individual must earn to cover basic living costs.

    That's estimated as £7.85 an hour, increased to £9.15 an hour for those working in London.

    A report from the independent Living Wage Commission in June 2014 found that “there remain 5.2 million people paid below a Living Wage in the UK”. The Commission includes representatives from business, trade unions and civil society.

    And the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), taken from 2014, estimate that 21.7% of UK jobs pay less than the Living Wage. Strictly speaking that's jobs, not workers.

    However, the proportion of jobs paying less than the living wage varies considerably when considering full-time and part-time jobs. In full time employment just 13.4% of jobs pay below the living wage, while the figure for part-time jobs rises to 42.3%.

  10. Snap poll results

    Here is a summary of the snap polls carried out after tonight's leaders' debate.

    Snap poll results

  11. More debate reaction to come

    This Week will gauge the reaction of Michael Portillo, David Lammy, Suzanne Evans, Miranda Green and SNP supporter Brian Cox, before host Andrew Neil winds down later with reality star Joey Essex. Watch live from 23:45 BST on BBC1.

    Joey Essex

  12. No game-changer?

    Nick Robinson
    Political editor

    Perhaps, says BBC political editor Nick Robinson. But the debate proved a new era of multi-party politics had become a "visible reality".

    This debate does not look likely to have determined who will win the general election but it may crystallise one single, simple and hugely significant fact - the shape of British politics has changed for good."

    Read more onNick's blog.

  13. Dominating the debate

    Some more on Twitter's analysis of what people were talking about during the #leadersdebate. The three moments that generated the greatest spikes in conversation on the social media site were:

    1. Nigel Farage’s comments on HIV

    2. The closing speeches

    3. A heckler interrupting

    Among the most re-tweeted posts was this satirical take by @GeneralBoles on Jonny Tudor, the 17-year-old who asked the first question of the evening.

    A tweet by GeneralBoles about the young man who asked the first questionTwitter

  14. Immigration on Question Time

    Back to Question Time, and the panel is asked about immigration. "It's plain that we are full," says Peter Hitchens. Michael Gove doesn't agree, saying it's a "good thing when talented people come here". Lib Dem Danny Alexander says in many parts of the economy "we rely on people from other parts of the world".

  15. Heckler

    Victoria ProsserPA

    The heckler who interrupted David Cameron during the TV leaders' debate (see 21:47) says she will not be voting for any of the politicians who took part. Victoria Prosser, 33, said she was asked to leave after making her intervention. Speaking to reporters outside the studio, she said: "My cause is speaking the truth and making sure as many people as possible start questioning people at the top, the 1%, who are not working in our best interests."

  16. More from the Worm

    The nationalists had a harder time when talking about either Wales or Scotland – for a more generally British audience, these issues didn’t cut through. But the female leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens all saw positive movement – most impressively when Nicola Sturgeon (twice) spoke about free university tuition in Scotland, when the Worm hit one of its highest points.

  17. Worm's verdict

    Here's what the BBC's floating voter worm (explained here ) made of the leaders' debate:

    Our audience of about 50 floating voters were a fairly positive bunch. The Worm didn’t dip too low at any one point. It leapt to life most markedly during the NHS session – praising the NHS or talking about how valuable it was a sure fire way of getting the Worm to rise. Other moments where it hit high points included when leaders talked about values more generally. It dipped though when there were arguments, or leaders talking over each other. Interestingly the Worm was not too active while UKIP leader Nigel Farage talked about immigration – it did though warm to his positive remarks on the NHS.

  18. Jim Pickard, Financial Times

    @PickardJE

    tweets :

    I didn't like Farage's performance but viewers put him 1st, 2nd and 3rd in three polls. He can claim to have won whether or not you agree.

  19. Mighty Giant

    @mighty_giant

    Tweets:

    Move the HofC to Salford. They all seem to be enjoying themselves up here #mediacity #leadersdabate @bbcqt

  20. Bargepole

    "First of all the women did fantastically well," says journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, to applause, on Question Time. The debate moves on to Scotland as Conservative Chief Whip Michael Gove says his party will do no deals with the SNP. "The SNP has made it clear they won't touch you with a bargepole", says David Dimbleby. "The feeling is mutual" replies Mr Gove.