Ed Miliband took a risk by turning up to this debate and until the last question it looked like it had definitely paid off. Miliband avoided conceding too much to the anti-austerity alliance to his left of Nicola Sturgeon, Natalie Bennett and Leanne Wood and parried Nigel Farage’s attacks on Labour pretty effectively. On Trident, he sounded statesmanlike as he explained why in an uncertain world, Britain needed to renew its nuclear deterrent. All the while, he got in regular attacks on David Cameron both for his record in government and not being at the debate.
But the last question was about hung parliaments and it is this which caused Miliband some problems. He stuck to his line about Labour wanting an overall majority and warned about the risks of voting SNP. But Sturgeon took the opportunity to set out how she and the other progressive parties would make Labour ‘better’.
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