TV leaders' debate dubbed 'worst episode of Take Me Out ever'

ITV's live general election leaders debate last night was missing the two main party chiefs after Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn declined to take part.

Instead, the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon, Tim Farron of the Lib Dems, Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas, Ukip chief Paul Nuttall and Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood were left to discuss their visions for the future of the country.

But according to Lucas: "There isn't a single question to which the answer from Paul Nuttall isn't immigration."

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The Ukip leader, who spent the evening fending off blows from the other four left-of-centre leaders, told them Brexit is "where our future lies".

The reaction in the press this morning is almost unanimous: the two-hour broadcast was spectacularly dull – and irrelevant.

According to the Daily Mirror, it "looked like the worst episode of Take Me Out ever", while The Independent's John Rentoul says it was "less interesting than a discussion among random people on Twitter or down the pub".

The problem, he continues, was that two of the leaders "explicitly reject any role for their parties in the government of the UK", while the other three have a combined tally of just ten MPs, so there was "no purpose" to the debate.

The only entertainment was provided by Nuttall "getting Leanne Wood's name wrong twice and allowing Farron to play the game of goading him to bring every question back to the subject of immigration", adds the journalist.

Live-blogging the debate for The Guardian, Andrew Sparrow concluded it was "all a bit dull", but warned the absence of May and Corbyn could impact negatively on their parties – if voters noticed.

The Daily Telegraph agrees. "Without Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn the debate lacked real purpose," it says.

Corbyn this morning challenged May to a live debate, saying: "The British people deserve a real discussion about the choice at this election."

In the unlikely event the Prime Minister takes up the offer, she should make sure he is who he says he is - a Corbyn lookalike turned up at ITV last night trying to get into the debate, Robert Peston reported on Twitter.