WATCHING politicians battle it out for votes in live TV debates has become a normal part of election contests in recent years.
Whether this will feature in the SNP leadership race is yet to be seen, with the party saying they have not yet reached the stage of considering the idea.
But an expert has warned it “may not be a wise idea”, as while TV debates can be beneficial for individual candidates it risks emphasising internal divisions within a party.
Louise Thompson, senior lecturer in politics at Manchester University, said: “For political parties it is a good way of not necessarily getting policies out there, but of getting across the more informal side of things – making the candidate more personable. So when Nick Clegg did the 2010 General Election, he came out as being the most normal sort of candidate.
“A lot of the research that has been done on TV debates suggests that while it does help people make the decision, it doesn’t necessarily change opinions or change minds about who people are going to vote for. So in that sense, the key thing is to think really what is the debate about and what is the purpose of them.”
The UK’s first televised leaders’ debate in a general election did not take place until 2010 – in contrast to the US for example, where it has been a regular feature of presidential elections since the 1960s.
Last year’s Conservative leadership contest saw several TV debates take place, which were characterised by clashes between the candidates and bizarre moments such as a presenter fainting on air.
One primetime debate during the 2019 Conservative leadership contest – involving Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Rory Stewart and Sajid Javid – drew in more than five million viewers.
But a TV battle between Tory candidates Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat last year ended up trumped by the BBC’s Countryfile – which drew in three million viewers compared to 2.7m for the leadership debate.
Thompson said: “I think we now expect them at every election, but I don’t necessarily think they are a good thing, particularly where it’s an election when the debate is going to be intraparty and not interparty, then it can go wrong.
“Last summer’s Conservative leadership debates were a good example of that, they were pretty pointless in that the overwhelming majority of people watching weren’t going to be able to vote.
“It might be good for individuals – so last summer Tom Tugendhat, for instance, as an unknown person came out much better than all the more established and well-known politicians.
“But the fact that you have to work through your own party’s history – if you’ve been in government or you have been a minister, it’s very hard to then distance yourself from things or you have to try and distance yourself from things.
“It just causes more internal divisions and exposes things that are already there and emphasises them.
“It risks bringing up even more division, so in that sense, I think an SNP one this time would be not a wise idea.”
