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. EU referendum

    Not every problem can be solved with an EU referendum, Nick Clegg tells Nigel Farage. Natalie Bennett says the Green Party supports a referendum but would be campaigning strongly to stay in.

  2. 'We got it wrong'

    We did get it wrong on immigration, says Ed Miliband, "and I have changed our approach".

  3. Sandy Sloan

    @Sandy92Sloan

    Tweets:

    Agree with @NicolaSturgeon that #Scotland should not be taken out of #Europe against it's will #leadersdebate

  4. Was migration 40,000 in the 1990s?

    Reality Check

    Nigel Farage repeats his claim that between 1990 and 1997, net migration to the UK was about 40,000 a year. This chart from the ONS shows that it was only close to 40,000 in 1990, 1991 and 1997. More details in this Reality Check.

    Chart showing migration

  5. sunnylambe

    @sunnylambe

    Tweets:

    #David Cameron has failed on his own promise to cut immigration. Ed Miliband has hit a bullseye. David, don't make promises you can't keep!

  6. Paul Delamore

    @pauldelamore

    Tweets:

    Natalie Bennett separating herself from SNP with great follow up to families broken up by immigration. Well played. #ge2015 #leadersdebate

  7. It's getting lively...

    David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage are talking over each other as the PM says the "irony" is that voting UKIP would help Labour. That was the rowdiest we've had so far.

  8. Who's "worst"?

    More on that ITV News/ComRes poll. While 24% of those 615 viewers thought Nigel Farage was "winning", 22% thought he was performing worst. That's more than any other leader. Some 21% thought Natalie Bennett was the worst performer, followed by Leanne Wood (18%), David Cameron (17%), Ed Miliband (10%), Nick Clegg (7%) and Nicola Sturgeon (6%).

  9. Send us your views

    Text: 61124

    Politics Live viewer:

    I have a vision of Julie Etchingham as Snow White with her seven friends... Doc, Dopey, Bashful, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy and Happy.

  10. Nick Clegg argues with Nigel FarageREX

  11. 'Ordinary folk'

    Nigel Farage says immigration has meant the wages of "ordinary folk" have been compressed because of immigration. The answer to that is to raise the minimum wage, says Nick Clegg. He and Mr Farage are married to foreigners, he says, calling for the UKIP leader to be "open hearted". Side-by-side, the two men clash in a repeat of their EU debate as Mr Farage urges Mr Clegg to admit there is nothing he can do about immigration while the UK is an EU member.

  12. 'Human lives'

    Natalie Bennett says she disagrees with Leanne Wood that the immigration debate is about economics. "It is about human lives," she says. She challenges David Cameron over accepting Syrian refugees.

  13. More jobs than the rest of the EU?

    Reality Check

    David Cameron says the UK has created more jobs than the rest of the EU put together.

    The first thing to say is that there are no statistics comparing job creation across the EU.

    Downing Street told independent factcheckers Full Fact that this claim is based on a comparison between the number of people in employment in the second quarters of 2010 and 2014, using Eurostat data.

    Based on those figures, it is true that the number of people in employment increased in the UK more than in the rest of the EU put together: there were 1.7 million additional people in employment in the UK while in the rest of the EU combined the number dropped by 1.5 million.

    Statisticians, however, say that it is wrong to make conclusions on job creation based on employment figure. They are two different things: the employment figures include, for example, self-employed as well as part-time workers sharing a job.

  14. Farage v Cameron

    Farage takes on Cameron over immigration. The UKIP leader says other EU leaders will not accept changes he wants to the free movement of people. The PM says Mr Farage "is basically saying 'give up before you've begun'".

  15. Half-time poll

    An ITV News/ComRes poll of 615 people watching the debate put Nigel Farage in the lead at the half-time stage. Some 24% of people felt he was performing best, ahead of Ed Miliband, who most impressed 21% of people. Then came David Cameron (19%) and Nicola Sturgeon (18%), followed by Nick Clegg (10%), Natalie Bennett (7%) and Leanne Wood (2%)

  16. Good or bad immigration?

    There's good immigration and bad immigration, says Nick Clegg: "I want Britain to be open for business, not open to abuse". Natalie Bennett says the difficulties people cite are not to do with immigration, they are failures of government policy.

  17. UK net migration figures

    Graphic showing long-term net migration to the UK

  18. Doc Atherton

    @realdocatherton

    Tweets:

    Ironically in Thanet where Nigel Farage is standing, immigration is considerably LOWER than the rest of the country! #leadersdebate #GE2015

  19. 'Fair changes'

    David Cameron outlines his planned curbs on EU migrants' entitlement to welfare. "Those are fair changes I can deliver," he says. Nigel Farage next - the other parties are all the same, he says, adding that "nothing can be done" about immigration while the UK is an EU member.