Leaders In Showdown: How It Unfolded

The seven party leaders have gone head to head for the only time before the General Election.

One poll found Ed Miliband won, SNP's Nicola Sturgeon came out on top in another and the Labour leader tied with Prime Minster David Cameron in two others.

There were a number of significant clashes during the showdown as views polarised on the economy, the NHS, immigration and young people.

This is how the debate unfolded:

:: Opening statements:

Greens leader Natalie Bennett told the audience her party was determined to "deliver a fair economy" that did not make society pay for the "fraud" carried out by bankers.

She accused the other parties of "trading in fear" - fear of immigrants and those on benefits.

Going second Nigel Farage set to distance himself from the other parties by saying they were "all the same" and all supported the European Union.

He rounded on "open door immigration" saying it made it impossible to get a GP appointment and housing and the UK needed to "take back control of its borders".

Nick Clegg was quick to admit he had made mistakes during his time in the coalition but he said he had learned from them and said he would "always act fairly". And he said he would protect schools and hospitals from cuts.

He was followed by Ms Sturgeon who vowed to "make Scotland's voice heard". She said she would not pretend she didn't want Scotland to be independent but added she would work with Westminster to get the best for everybody.

Mr Cameron trumpeted the Government's success in turning around the economy and said he had cut takes for 30 million people. His comments were primarily aimed at Mr Miliband as he said there was a stark choice between a long-term plan that was working and chaos.

Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood said her party could win for Wales in a hung parliament and offered Plaid Cymru as the alternative vote and to give Wales a voice in Westminster.

Rounding off the opening statements Mr Miliband promised to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour and rescue the NHS - he also pledged to cut the deficit and balance the books.

:: Question 1: How would leaders reduce the deficit without raising taxes?

First to respond was Mr Clegg who said the Lib Dems would cut fairly and look to those with the "broadest shoulders" to take the biggest burden.

Mr Cameron said the Conservatives would look for balance and find savings of £1 in every £100 that the Government spends for another two years. He said the spending and the tax would hurt working people.

Ms Wood said the "austerity experiment" had failed and that her party would not put a deadline on eliminating the deficit. She said the banks had had a bailout and now it was time for the people to have one.

The UKIP leader said the national debt had doubled in the last five years and said cuts were needed. UKIP would end "vanity projects" like HS2, scrap the foreign aid budget and stop paying money to the EU. He also said the Government should stop throwing money over Hadrian's Wall.

Mr Miliband said he would balance the books in a fairer way than in the past five years. He would start by reversing the tax cuts for millionaires and improve living standards.

Ms Bennett said the Green Party would target multinationals and rich individuals, raising taxes to pay down the deficit.

Ms Sturgeon said austerity was holding back economic growth and she did not agree with the cuts proposed by the Tories, Lib Dems or Labour.

As they went into the free-for-all, Mr Clegg then asked Mr Cameron why he was not going to ask the richest in society to pay more and yet was happy to make "ideological cuts" to schools and health services.

Mr Cameron responded by saying a Conservative government would bring in more money from tax evaders and avoiders.

However, Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron had failed to act on tax havens while Labour would introduce a tax on the rich to pay for health service improvements.

Mr Cameron said Mr Miliband wanted to put up taxes and cut people's pay. He produced a copy of the letter Labour left when the coalition came to power in 2010 which said: "I'm sorry there's no money left."

Ms Sturgeon said it was ironic to hear Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg arguing over cuts when they had been hand in glove imposing the cuts for the last five years.

She said she backed Mr Miliband on raising the top rate of tax but she said the country could not afford more cuts in the next parliament.

Mr Farage said there was no question spending got completely out of hand under Labour but added that it had not been improved over the last five years and Britain had "maxed out the credit cards".

Ms Woods accused Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron of "balancing the books on the backs of the poor".

The first furious exchange of the night was between Mr Miliband and Ms Sturgeon over the £30bn cuts programme the three largest parties were in agreement on and with which the SNP leader has said she would make a red line for any deal that would put a minority Labour in power.

:: For full coverage of the General Election 2015 click here

:: Question 2: how would parties fund and safeguard the NHS?

Mr Farage said he would look to make cuts to the health service by reducing middle management which had increased by 48%. He said he supported the NHS because he had needed it himself a fair few times. He would pour £3bn into the NHS by cutting the money to the EU.

He added he would end the "tax" on illness - car parking charges - and blamed "health tourists" for increasing the costs to the health service.

He said that 60% of those being treated for HIV in British hospital were "not British nationals".

He was rounded on by Ms Sturgeon and Ms Wood. The SNP leader said: "There isn't anything Nigel Farage won't blame on foreigners."

She added: "When someone is diagnosed with a dreadful illness, my instinct is to view them as a human being – not consider what country they come from."

Ms Wood said: "This kind of scaremongering rhetoric is dangerous. It divides communities and it creates stigma to people who are ill. I think you should be ashamed of yourself."

Mr Clegg said the NHS needed £8bn by the end of next parliament and that the Lib Dems were the only ones who had a proper plan to find that money. He said if the other leaders loved the NHS why "don't you put your money where your heart is?"

Ms Wood said the NHS was founded by people contributing together to fund the health care they needed. She said the NHS faced two threats in Wales - cuts and Labour.

Mr Miliband said Labour would take money from hedge funds engaged in tax avoidance for a Time To Care fund to hire more nurses, 8000 more doctors, 5000 for care workers, and 3000 more midwives.

He said the Government had failed because the NHS was missing cancer targets for the first time and tents had, had to been erected in which to treat patients because of the stresses on the system.

Mr Cameron spoke of his son Ivan, who died in 2009, and said: "I will never forget as the father of a desperately disabled child what I got every night when I took him to hospital worried about his health, I got unbelievable care and I want that for every family and everyone in our country."

He said the Conservatives would continue to put more money into the NHS every year and promised family doctors would open from 8am to 8pm.

:: Farage The Marmite Figure: at half time, the ITV News/ComRes poll of 615 people currently watching the debate shows Mr Farage with the highest percentage of those who think he is performing best - and the highest percentage who think he's doing worst.

Question 3: how would you address the issue of immigration?

Mr Miliband said he would change Labour's approach because it was not prejudiced to discuss immigration. He said under Labour those coming to the country would receieve no benefits for first two years and would make sure employers were not allowed to undercut wages and conditions. But he said he "didn't want to cut Britain off from the rest of the world."

Ms Wood said Plaid Cymru would not go along with scapegoating immigrants. She said: "It was not Polish care workers or Estonian bar workers who caused this economic crisis – it was bankers."

Ms Sturgeon echoed her comments saying the majority of migrants worked and that the UK should have a debate about immigration but not one "driven by the intolerance of Nigel Farage". Ms Bennett agreed with her comments.

Mr Cameron said immigration needed to be brought under control. He said immigrants would have to work for four years and pay into the system before "taking out of the system". He said he had not given up renegotiating on freedom of movement as part of a new deal for Britain in the EU.

Mr Farage again attempted to paint the parties as "all the same". He said it was impossible to control immigration while the UK was a member of the EU.

Mr Clegg there was "good immigration and bad immigration". He said he wanted Britain to be open for business but not open to abuse.

Ms Wood said a vote on Britain's membership of the EU should be held separately in each of the four countries - her comments were echoed by Ms Sturgeon.

The SNP leader said: "Nigel Farage wants to take the UK out of Europe. David Cameron is taking is dangerously close to the exit door. I would like to issue a challenge to David, Ed and Nick.

"They spent a lot of time talking about the UK family of nations during the Scottish referendum, but will they give a commitment that if there is an in-out referendum, no one part of that family of nations will be taken out of Europe against its will?

"Will the vote be counted in each of the four nations so none of us can be dragged out?"

Mr Miliband said if he was prime minister he would not have a referendum on Europe.

Mr Clegg said that Mr Farage thought the solution to all the UK's problem was a referendum on EU membership. He said if Britain was to leave the EU then it would lead to an increase in unemployment.

:: Question 4: what you will do for first time voters generation?

Ms Wood said because of the austerity measures Plaid Cymru could not afford to scrap tuition fees but would like some courses to be made available for free.

Mr Miliband said he would cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000, build homes, end zero-hours contract and that he believed that the next generation should do better than the last.

Mr Cameron said he believed in creating jobs and giving young people the choice of apprenticeships and university. He also said he wanted to build homes that people could afford to buy.

Ms Bennett said that education was a public good and it should be paid for from progressive taxation. She said students should not be leaving university with an average of £44,000 of debt.

Mr Clegg again apologised for not delivering on tuition fees as he had promised in the party's 2010 manifesto but he said he had delivered on tax cuts and other measures that would make the future fairer.

Ms Sturgeon said in Scotland they had kept university attendance free and said that she had benefited from a free university education and had "no right" to take that away from the next generation.

Mr Farage said he thought that there was a section of young people who were having a great time because they were rich. He said by abolishing grammar schools it had ruined the future of a number of children who could have done better. He also said he would start a brownfield building boom.

Mr Cameron celebrated the free school programme to provide a better education.

As Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg started squabbling about schools cuts, Mr Miliband said: "They are blaming each other and they are both right."

Mr Clegg rounded on Mr Miliband for "crashing the economy" after the Labour leader criticised him for his u-turn on tuition fees.

Mr Clegg said: "This is the man who was part of the government who said no boom and bust in the economy and crashed our economy, jeopardising the future generations and life chances of millions of people.

"I have prioritised, taken responsibility for the mistakes I made. Why doesn't Ed Miliband apologise for crashing the economy. You got it wrong on banking regulation."

Mr Miliband responded: "Absolutely we are sorry for what we did in relation to the banks and they were under regulated but there was a global financial crisis.

"David, when you were leader of the opposition at the time you said the banks were over-regulated – so I will not take lectures from you on the global financial crisis."

As they moved on to zero-hours contracts, it was Mr Cameron who pointed out that Labour employed 62 people on zero-hours contracts - which was being put out by the Liberal Democrats on Twitter during the afternoon.