Polls give Farage second debate win over Clegg

[dutchman]

Both the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence party claimed victory last night after the second of two live leaders’ debates over Britain’s membership of the EU – despite polls suggesting Nigel Farage had emerged the clear winner for a second week in a row.



Two polls conducted after the clash, broadcast on BBC Two, showed nearly 70 per cent of viewers thought Mr Farage, Ukip leader, had performed better than his Lib Dem opponent.

But senior Lib Dems said they believed Mr Clegg’s performance over the two debates would win a vital few percentage points in the polls at May’s European elections, which could save scores of their MEPs.

The most bitter clashes during the debate centred on Mr Farage’s views on Vladimir Putin, whom he claimed was the world leader he most admired.

Mr Farage repeated his assertion that the EU had “blood on its hands” over its treatment of Ukraine, where thousands of Russian troops remain stationed on the border. The Ukip leader said the Russian president had “outwitted and outclassed” western leaders, accusing Ukrainian rebels of having “toppled a democratically elected leader”.

Wednesday’s debate focused more closely on Syria after Mr Farage told the BBC hours before the debate that he believed Syrian rebels had been responsible for chemical weapons attacks, rather than the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Both leaders claimed to represent a more modern view of Britain but Mr Farage aimed many of his comments directly at white working-class voters who feel left behind by increasing globalisation.

Recent studies have shown such voters make up the Ukip core support, rather than middle-class Conservative defectors. Mr Farage appealed to them by saying recent waves of European immigration had “left the white working class effectively as an underclass”, something he called “a disaster for our society”.

Both parties say they enjoyed a boost in membership after the first of the two debates, broadcast live on Sky last week. They hope that last night’s debate, which was set to attract more than double the number of viewers, would help that even further.

Danny Alexander, Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary, said: “We are getting the point across to people that we are the only party arguing the case for British membership of the EU.”

Another party official said: “How often do we get that much airtime to so many viewers? Whatever happened, this would have been a success.”

But the Ukip delegation was the most obviously elated by the results of the YouGov and ICM polls after the debate, which showed Mr Farage won by 68 per cent to 27 per cent and 69 per cent to 29 per cent respectively.

A spokesman for Mr Farage said: “This is a game changer, particularly for Nick Clegg. Nigel smashed him out of the park for the second week running and on his own niche subject of the EU. This is incredibly exciting for Ukip.”

Both the Conservatives and Labour stayed away from the debate, apart from John Redwood, the former Tory minister, who claimed victory for his leader, despite David Cameron refusing an invitation to take part.

[rebbonk]

Clegg is ( thankfully ) finished. The bloke has clearly demonstrated just what he is and is now a spent force. Stupid boy Clegg, never been anywhere, never done anything, but I know all the answers, has ruined what ought have been a decent party. Clegg is a fool and now deserves everything that comes his way.

Sadly, I expect this to continue taking from the public purse for some time to come.

[dutchman]

Labour are scared of taking us on, says Farage

Ed Miliband last night demanded that Nigel Farage is barred from the leaders’ debates at next year’s General Election.

His call came the day after Ukip leader Mr Farage trounced Nick Clegg in a second debate on Europe.

A senior Tory source indicated that the Conservatives would also seek to block Mr Farage – even though the anti-EU party has been ahead of the Liberal Democrats in the opinion polls for months.

Mr Farage last night accused the two main parties of ‘running scared’.

‘I am not the least bit surprised they want to exclude me,’ he said. ‘The establishment parties are frightened of our arguments, which they know have deep resonance with their own voters.’

Opinion polls suggest Mr Farage demolished the Deputy Prime Minister in Wednesday night’s debate broadcast on the BBC.