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UK political leaders battle it out in 7-way election debate

Published:Thursday | April 2, 2015 | 12:00 AMAP
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British Prime Minister David Cameron talks with pupils during a visit to the Kings Leadership Academy in Warrington, northwest England, yesterday.
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Britain's Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband speaks to an invited audience made up of Labour supporters and undecided voters, during an election trail, at Bury Town Hall, in Bury, yesterday.
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LONDON, (AP): Britain's political leaders are clashing in a seven-way debate before a May 7 national election.

Britain's political landscape is at its most fragmented in decades.

Yesterday's showdown includes Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservatives, main opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and chiefs of the centrist Liberal Democrats, right-wing UK Independence Party, Welsh and Scottish nationalists and Greens.

They'll have two hours to sway voters, who currently look set to deny any party a parliamentary majority.

Debates can transform a campaign. In 2010, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's performance sparked a wave of "Clegg-mania" that sent poll ratings soaring. On polling day the party took a quarter of votes; Clegg became deputy prime minister.