United Kingdom general election debates, 2015

The term "United Kingdom general election debates" of 2015 refers to a series of four live television programmes featuring the main political party leaders that took place in March/April 2015 in the run-up to the general election. After various prior proposals and arguments over which parties should be represented, there was a single debate between the leaders of seven British parties:

There was a second debate involving the "challengers", those in the above list who were not members of the outgoing coalition government. There were also two programmes - one with Cameron and Miliband; one with Cameron, Miliband and Clegg - in which the leaders answered questions but did not debate head-to-head.

Following the result of the election, a survey of 3,019 people, carried out by Panelbase, found that 38% of voters considered the debates to have influenced their voting intention.

The first series of televised leaders' debates in the United Kingdom were held in the previous election. Broadcasters proposed another series of televised debates in the run up to the 2015 election, although in a different format. The suggestion was that the debates should take place during the early stages of the campaign, before April. Cameron suggested that the televised debates should take place before the campaign itself, as he felt that the 2010 debates overshadowed the rest of the campaign; he was, however, still positive towards them taking place.

There was media speculation from individuals such as Michael Crick of Channel 4 News as to who may be included in the debates. He suggested that if UKIP did not receive sufficient coverage, they could make a legal case against broadcasters that under-represent the party, if the leaders of the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats are included. Prime Minister David Cameron had dismissed the call for UKIP's participation. The Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband said in January 2013 that the composition of each debate was a matter for the media organisations.

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