Labour's Miliband wins final TV debate of election campaign - poll

LONDON (Reuters) - Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband won the final TV debate of the election campaign on Thursday, a snap poll showed, but Prime Minister David Cameron declined to take part and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was not included. With most opinion polls showing Cameron's Conservatives neck-and-neck with Labour ahead of the May 7 vote, set to be the closest British election since the 1970s, both parties are seeking a game-changing moment. Thursday's poll, conducted by Survation and the Daily Mirror newspaper immediately after the TV debate had finished, showed 35 percent of those asked thought Miliband had won the debate, while 31 percent believed Scottish nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon had triumphed. The BBC TV debate only featured Miliband alongside the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties, the Greens and UKIP, making it an oddly incomplete event. The Survation poll surveyed 1,013 people who had watched the debate immediately after it had finished. Though Cameron was not present, the same poll found that 45 percent of those surveyed would prefer Miliband as prime minister compared to 40 percent who said they favoured Cameron. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Osborn)