Which political parties should take part in the General Election Debates depends on what you think each of them stands for: if you view them as purely Prime Ministerial debates, then only David Cameron and Ed Miliband should take part, as they are the most likely to inhabit No. 10 after May 2015.
If any party that could take part in the post-election settlement should appear in the debates then Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish National Party (SNP) should feature.Whether UKIP should also appear depends on how many seats the party could realistically win. If it is only 5, they cannot really be said to be able to take part in the government settlement in May. If it is closer to the 20+ that the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party are expected to win, then of course they should feature under this model.
Most pundits seem to suggest that any party who can garner a significant number of votes should take part in the debates. If so, Labour, the Conservatives and UKIP are the only parties polling consistently over 10% and should therefore be the only parties to participate in the debate. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party also have support across a large area of the UK, and therefore could possibly feature.
Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, seems to suggest that her party should be allowed in the debates because they are influential in Scotland. In this case, the argument can be made that the DUP and Sinn Fein of Northern Ireland should certainly feature. And if Plaid Cymru are to appear, as their leader Leanne Wood wants, so should Alliance, due to their constant presence in the Northern Irish Executive.
It is arguably unrealistic to say a party appearing should stand UK-wide, as this leaves only the United Kingdom Independence Party. If the parameters are narrowed to standing across Great Britain, then Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and UKIP are the only parties who deserve to appear. After all, the Scottish Green Party and Green Party of England & Wales are separate organisations, with different policies. These 4 parties are those that the Office of Communications (OfCom) currently say should appear in the Election Debates this year.
What is certainly clear however, is that until we establish a clear definition of the purpose of the debates, we cannot say who should appear in them.
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