Dear Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and David Cameron,
Please stop the spin at the television election debates and make sure that voters get the answers they deserve.
We want proper debates between the leaders, not just more spin:
- the majority of questions should be chosen and asked by ordinary voters, not by people inside the Westminster bubble
- the audience should be representative of people in the country as a whole, not drawn from insider political cliques
- ordinary voters asking questions should have the right to respond to the leaders once the leaders have given their first answer
- the leaders taking part should be able to respond directly to one another: we don't want it to be full of perfectly prepared speeches with no arguments
- at least two of the debates should happen outside London and the South East
Your personal information will be kept private and treated in accordance with our privacy policy.
For the first time ever, the leaders of the three main political parties have agreed to meet for three television debates in the weeks before the general election. If the politicians get their way the debates will just be another opportunity for politicians to deliver their carefully rehearsed spin. That's just not good enough: we want a real debate, with real voters choosing and asking the questions they care about: sign the petition now to call on the leaders to agree that the majority of questions are asked and chosen by voters.
Trust in politicians is already at an all time low. With the MPs expenses crisis, plus bankers running wild with the public's money, real voters' view just aren't getting through to Westminster politicians. The television debates before the election could be a chance to change all that, but only if the right people are choosing which questions get asked and then standing up to Brown, Clegg and Cameron and asking the questions on the day.
This election is too important to be decided on spin and hot air. We need real answers from Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg before election day, so we can make a proper choice about how to vote. Demand a proper debate, with real questions chosen and asked by people outside the Westminster publicity machine. Sign the petition now.
