Final prime ministerial debate

Tuesday 18 May 10

David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown last night had their final tv debate before the election. The 90-minute debate, hosted by the BBC's David Dimbleby in Birmingham, focused on the economy.

An average audience of 8.4m people watched the final prime ministerial debate, An average of 9.4m viewers tuned into the first ITV1 debate a fortnight ago, while 4m watched last week's Sky event.

The Labour leader started by warning against a Tory and Liberal Democrat coalition which would put "at risk" economic recovery. David Cameron said Mr Brown was trying to "scare" voters and the Tories could deliver the "change we need". Nick Clegg urged voters to "choose the future you really want".  

The leaders discussed subjects including economic policy, immigration, housing, political reform, education, tax, banking reform and spending cuts.

Snap polls suggested viewers felt the Tory leader, David Cameron, was the winner while Labour leader, Gordon Brown, is third in many opinion polls.