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

LONDON (AP) – Britain’s political leaders went head to head – to head to head to head to head to head – in a seven-way debate Thursday before a May 7 national election.

Britain’s political landscape is at its most fragmented in decades, and the showdown included Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservatives, main opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and chiefs of the centrist Liberal Democrats, right-wing U.K. Independence Party, Welsh and Scottish nationalists and Greens.

They had two prime-time hours to sway voters, who currently look set to deny any party a parliamentary majority.

The format gave each leader a brief introductory speech, followed by four sections in which they answered questions from a studio audience, with strict time limits on each response.

Both Cameron and Miliband are focusing their campaign on Britain’s economy, which went into a long recession after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Cameron opened by saying that “five years ago this country was on the brink,” but is now recovering thanks to the Conservatives’ deficit-cutting policies.

Miliband said austerity had hurt ordinary Britons.

“Britain succeeds when working people succeed, but that’s not the way it’s been for the last five years,” he said.

Cameron is widely seen as having the most to lose in the televised contest, and refused to appear in a two-way debate with Miliband.

Miliband, often criticized as cerebral and awkward, will try to appear both human and tough, while Clegg hopes to convince voters that his party still has a distinct identity after five years in a coalition government with the Conservatives.

For the four smaller-party leaders this is the main chance to address a national TV audience.

UKIP has made major inroads with a core message of leaving the European Union and restricting immigration, but has been criticized for having few other policies. Leader Nigel Farage will try to show that he is a major political player.

Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party and Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru – Welsh for the Party of Wales – will vow to deliver more power for their regions, and potentially play kingmakers if the election result is close.

Natalie Bennett of the Green Party – which has just one seat out of 650 in the House of Commons – will try to show that her party has policies on issues beyond the environment.

Debates, a relatively new phenomenon in British politics, can transform a campaign. In 2010, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s performance sparked a wave of “Clegg-mania” that sent his poll ratings soaring. On polling day the party took a quarter of votes, and Clegg became deputy prime minister.

But Britain’s first-past-the post electoral system makes it hard to translate popularity into seats in the House of Commons. Clegg’s Lib Dems won more votes in 2010 than in the previous election, but still ended up with fewer seats – though they still held the balance of power in a divided Commons.