Jeremy Corbyn to take part in General Election Debate

Jeremy Corbyn is set to take part in tonight’s flagship General Election debate tonight in Cambridge.

Confirming he will take part, Corbyn criticised the Conservative’s for their ‘stage managed arms length campaign’, as well as pointing out that Theresa May’s refusal to take part in any debates was ‘another sign of her weakness, not strength’

As Cambridge is a marginal constituency, with only a 599 majority separating the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats, it is to be blessed by two debates tonight. A national debate with some of the most recognisable politicians in the UK attempting to prove themselves in their ability to govern, as well as a local debate with the 5 politicians vying to be our local constituency representative.

The national debate is to be hosted in the Senate House with representatives from 7 main political parties. The debate will shown on BBC 1 at 7:30pm moderated by Mishal Husain, who studied at Murray Edwards, then called New Hall.

The debate’s format is a podium style debate over 90 minutes. Each party representative will have short opening statement followed by questions from the audience. The audience is weighted to reflect the popular support of each party within the country. There will also be closing remarks from each party at the end of the debate. The first party representative to start the opening remarks will be Leanne Wood, who is the leader of Plaid Cymru.

The senate house is to play host for the BBC national election debate.

The Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Plaid Cymru and Green’s are all being represented by their party leaders. In the case of the Green’s, where there are two leaders, Caroline Lucas has been chosen. The Conservative party have announced that Amber Rudd, the Home secretary, an experienced debater, famous for singling out of Boris Johnson stating that “you can’t trust him to take you home at the end of an evening”, will be the Conservative’s representative. As a fervent remainer in the referendum, speculation has arisen that Rudd will be scrutinised for renewed support for Brexit.

The labour party have now confirmed Jeremy Corbyn will be representing them in the debate, leaving Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon as the only absentee leaders. The SNP will be represented by Angus Robertson, their deputy party leader.

The local debate will be hosted in Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). The hustings has been organised by Anglia Ruskin and Cambridge University student union. Tickets are still avilable through Eventbrite. The participants of the debate mirror the candidates for the Cambridge constituency: Daniel Zeichner (Labour), John Hayward (Conservative), Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat), Stuart Tuckwood (Green) and Keith Garratt (Rebooting democracy).

This is not the only coverage that Cambridge has received. Yesterday, due to the debate being in Cambridge, Daily Politics arrived in the city with its ‘mood box’ asking voters whether they were going to watch the election debate programme, or Britain’s got talent. Unsurprisingly, this (boring) intellectual city opted for the Election Debate.