Posted on Friday, April 23, 2010

Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems will try to boost their election campaigns following a confrontational TV prime ministerial debate.

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg clashed over Europe, campaign tactics, tax and nuclear weapons.

Labour said Mr Brown won on "substance" while the Tories said Mr Cameron gave a more assured performance.

The Lib Dems say it is still a three-horse race, as polls continue to point towards a hung parliament after 6 May.

Instant polls after Thursday's debate, hosted by Sky in Bristol, gave conflicting verdicts about whether Mr Cameron or Mr Clegg came out on top. A Sky News poll of polls had them tied with an average of 33% against Mr Brown on 27%.

Livelier debate

But BBC polling expert David Cowling said there had been a significant drop in the number of people who thought Mr Clegg won, while Mr Brown had the most improved ratings.

Asked about poll ratings putting Mr Brown in third place, Labour's election co-ordinator Douglas Alexander said no commentators could know what the result of the election would be.

Last night David was the David I know, who is strong, who is clear, who is rational William Hague Send your comment Fiery clashes in TV leader debate

It was estimated that between 25% and 30% of voters had not made their minds up and there was a "huge opportunity" for all parties, he told the BBC. He said Mr Brown had emerged as "an energised candidate" who "dominated on substance".

"We are neither contemplating or planning for defeat. We have seen a huge change in the polls in the last couple of weeks, who knows where we will be on polling day. We are working for a majority on May 6."

Leaflet row

But William Hague told the BBC that the Conservatives' campaign was "continuing to do well on the ground".

"Last night David was the David I know, who is strong, who is clear, who is rational. That will no doubt have boosted our fortunes in this campaign."

The debate itself was livelier than last week, with flashes of anger from Mr Cameron in particular as he accused Labour of spreading "lies" about Tory policy on benefits for the elderly in election leaflets, telling Mr Brown he should be "ashamed" of them.

Both the Conservative and Labour leaders pointed to the squabbling of the other two but avoided saying "I agree with Nick" in an effort to win the Lib Dem leader over - and at one point Mr Cameron raised a laugh by saying "I agree with Gordon" over nuclear weapons.

Lib Dem frontbencher Ed Davey told GMTV: "I think his message of change is still resonating, yesterday both the Tories and Labour wanted to land a knockout blow on Nick... and they failed."

He said voters were responding "very positively" to the party's message of "change".

Economy pitch

During the debate Mr Brown made a point of attacking Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg equally, rounding off his closing statement by telling his two rivals: "Nick you would leave us weak, David you would leave us isolated in Europe."

We moved from "I agree with Nick" to "I disagree with Nick" as Gordon Brown and David Cameron attacked Nick Clegg Read Nick Robinson's blog Full transcript of debate

But the Labour leader's main pitch was to tell voters anything other than a Labour majority risked damaging the economy, telling voters: "Don't do anything that puts this economic recovery at risk."

Mr Cameron said Mr Brown sounded "desperate" and accused him of "trying to frighten people".

In his closing statement, he said Britain needed a "clean break from 13 years of failure".

Mr Clegg, who was the last to deliver a closing statement, sought to strike an optimistic note, saying "people are beginning to hope that we can do something different this time" and "if we do things differently we can be a force for good in the world".

The three leaders clashed over Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent, immigration policy, and the war in Afghanistan.