This means that MPs are set to debate whether an independent commission should be set up to ensure that debates take place at general election times.

This has been an unusual campaign because Sky News does not stand to benefit directly if it succeeds.

In fact, we are suggesting that the broadcasters and other news organisations should pay for the commission so that there is no bill to taxpayers.

Ever since our successful campaign for leaders debates in 2010, we have argued that they are an important public service which only TV can provide and that the television companies should co-operate to bring them about.

That is why we launched our campaign two months ago in a low-key way. We wanted to show that that it was the best way of proceeding calmly and coolly, away from the heat of an election campaign when passions are roused.

Ironically, the prime minister’s debate challenge to Jeremy Corbyn over Brexit has turbocharged the petition over the line in the last few days.

It also shows just why a respected debates commission is needed to ensure fairness for all sides when debates involving the prime minister take place.

Many senior politicians backed our petition campaign – including Mr Corbyn, Amber Rudd, Sir Vince Cable, as well as the SNP and the Green Party – but Mrs May and the government did not.

When the petition passed 10,000 votes, the obligatory official response was simply that the government had “no plans” to back a commission.

The point being that prime ministers like David Cameron, Tony Blair and Mrs May like to have the power to say yes or, more usually, no to debates. A standing commission implies that they will always take place.

This has certainly been the effect in the US, where debates have taken place in every election cycle since the presidential debates commission was established.

In seeking a primetime debate now, Mrs May is showing that she believes that it is the best and most-engaging way to argue her case to the greatest number of people.

That is precisely what Sky News has been arguing for the past decade and it will be difficult for the prime minister to make a principled and credible case against election debates in future.

There are also many people unhappy that only Mrs May and Mr Corbyn are set to be in any great Brexit debate. Both of them voted remain and both of them are in favour of a negotiated exit from the EU.

There will be no advocates of either the People’s Vote or a no-deal Brexit on stage.

There are many good reasons why a debate between the leaders of the governing and main opposition parties is worth having, but would it not be better if the line-up was dictated by an independent arbitrator, rather than a stitch-up between the two to exclude those who disagree with them?

Of course the general election debates commission we are proposing would not necessarily be called in outside elections and, probably, for referendums. But we believe it would quickly prove itself as a trusty authority to lean on.

We have hit our 100,000 target in about a third of the six months allotted for parliamentary petitions, but please keep signing it and recruiting your friends and family – especially if you are a Remainer or a Brexiteer unhappy with the likely line-up for the Brexit debate.

The more people who pile in, the greater the pressure on the government will be.

Source: Read Full Article