In or Out? The BBC debate

the action in Sportsday at 10.45pm. So now to the main event of the

evening, the rematch between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage in a special

BBC debate over Britain's future in Europe. Stay with us for all the

build`up to that debate, the debate itself and all the reaction and

analysis to it ahead of the full news round`up at 9pm. Last week the

men went head to head, tonight will be a knockout blow? We will go to

Broadcasting House. `` will there be. In the last few minutes, Nick

Clegg and Nigel Farage have gone through the doors behind me. The

audience of 100 people in the theatre have been here for several

hours and that debate begins at 7pm. Not long to go. There has been more

controversy today, people talking about Nigel Farage and his comments

about Vladimir Putin. He suggested that he had a great deal of

admiration for him and that has been criticised. He was asked again about

this by journalists. Let us hear some of that. I admire him as an

operator, and international political operator and compared to

people like Nick Clegg, he is head and shoulders above him. It does not

mean I like him. To regard the bloodshed in this area as a game and

to say he admires Vladimir Putin, shows how irresponsible he is. This

is the real world and you need to take serious decisions, particularly

in the face of such a humanitarian disaster. We can only assume that

there are last`minute preparations going on. Nigel Farage's camp lead

in cameras earlier when he was just getting some last minute thoughts

from advisers `` did let in cameras. Every journalist I have spoken to

said that what has to happen is one man has two delivers some form of

knockout blow. That has to happen `` has two delivers some form. `` has

to deliver some. We will be talking more closer to the beginning of the

debate. The debate is being chaired by David Dimbleby, a man familiar

with this setup and I asked him what he expected tonight. I did 140 years

ago with Roy Jenkins and Tony Benn. `` I did one 40 years ago. The

arguments are still the same. It is all the same issues. Each debate is

different. We did the leaders debate for the last election. This is not a

party debate, it is two individuals who feel strongly. Of course the

European elections are coming up, but it is not the context. Nick

Clegg challenged Nigel Farage and he took it on. It is like a prize

fight. The first round was on Sky. Tonight, the knockout blow. Let us

see if there is one. There has to be one or else it will be a damp

squib. 100 members of the public have been invited. Last week, they

covered lot of ground. I wonder where it could go this week, what

topics could come out which have not been touched on? I do not think

that. What I hope will happen is that they will take each other on on

their own arguments. They talked to the audience and not each other, and

I hope they debate with each other. They hardly looked at each other. I

hope that the result of last week is that the issues are there and they

have to get in the killer points. Nick Clegg has said he will be more

passionate and Nigel Farage says he knows there will be a fight. I would

hope that the strength of conviction comes through. David Dimbleby

earlier. He is going to be on the podium in the theatre soon. The

theatre is on my right and further around the corner, is what has been

described as a spin room. Norman Smith is there. Explain what sort of

characters you are wet and what we can expect. I have moved, `` what

sort of characters are there. This is the bar. This is problem where

most of the journalists will gather. `` probably. This is where the

Liberal Democrat team will be working things out. When it is all

over, they will come out and tell us how he did. Over there, that is

where UKIP are. Both teams will come out and tell us what has happened.

We have had a lot of the briefing already, the Liberal Democrats want

more passion from Nick Clegg, the signs from UKIP are that they want

more detail from Nigel Ferrara should. Let us look at some of the

issues `` Nigel Farage. So now we move to Round Two. Last time, the

UKIP man was judged the winner. Both men have had a solid week to hone

their key arguments, but we already know most of the big pitches. We

should not be sacrificing a single job just to fulfil the dogmatic view

that we should turn our backs on the rest of the world. The debate is

between a tired status quo, defending a crumbling European Union

which is not working any more and a fresh approach which says, let us be

friendly with Europe, but not be governed by their institutions. What

will be the key points? The referendum, last time the message

from Nigel Farage is that we need one. This was the response from Nick

Clegg. We have referendums when there is an important question to

answer, when new powers are being transferred to the European Union,

by a government, it should be done that is when. It should not be done

by a government, it should be done by the people. The government has

agreed that. Another crunch point? Immigration. Nick Clegg said not to

exaggerate it. This was the response from Nigel Farage. We ought to

operate a system of work permits, work permits in terms of what are

the shortages we may have and what are the skills that other people may

want to bring in. Perhaps the real crunch point could come with a slip

or a mistake or an unexpected question. No matter how much they

have prepared, there is no hiding place in a live televised,

face`to`face debate. So much for the issues, let us talk about the people

and the personalities involved. I will join two people involved in the

briefing preparations. This is then Farren and this is the policy

director from UKIP. Tim, we are hearing about how your man has to

show passion. We should be passionate about the role of Britain

in the world. We need to make sure we protect the jobs that matter to

people. It is about being in favour of the interest of Britain. A lot of

the talk today has been about Vladimir Putin. Your man said he

would not back down. Is this a mistake? We do not want to be

dragged into another conflict. One of our politicians said that we

should not have intervened in Syria. When you look at the foreign policy

of the European Union, Baroness Ashton getting involved, we do not

want to meddle and dealer with the problems in this country. I was

looking at some of the comments that Nigel Farage married and about

Syria, he said he thought it was the rebels who had used chemical weapons

`` made. If we had listened to the political class, we would be

involved there are now and it would be British lives being lost. We do

not want that. We do not want to get bogged down in commitments overseas

which do not affect British interests. The argument about

Vladimir Putin is all fine, but it is nothing to do with Russia. In a

sense it is. Are we on the side of democracy and freedom? I do not

believe that what Vladimir Putin is doing in Crimea is anything any

decent British person should support. How we deal with Syria,

those are all moot points, but we should not, as Nigel Farage seems to

do, giving credit to Vladimir Putin. We should play our part in

the world, but we should not be standing up for people who are

beyond the pale. In opposition they were non`interventionist. Let me

finish. Now, when they get into power, they want to intervene

everywhere and they want to deny us a referendum stop it is not about

whether we are interventionist, it is about whether we were on the side

of dictators. I do not think we should go into Crimea with troops,

but I am on the side of the free people of Ukraine. I have on the

table a copy of this report, on the Charter of fundamental rights, one

of your people said to me that Nigel Farage may mention this, because it

talks about how the European Charter has more influence on British law

than the British Parliament. Does that not underline the fact that

there is a scramble on your side to show that Nigel Farage has a bit of

gravitas, that he is not all bluster? There are many ways that

the European Union affects our day`to`day laws. We will be able to

show that the EU lawmaking machine does not stop. Do you know where the

phrase spin room comes from? No idea whatsoever. I look this up in

advance. It comes from Ronald Reagan in 1984. Here is the interesting

thing, in that debate, Walter Mondale was judged to have won it,

but the headlines were won by Ronald Reagan, because he set up his team

in a nearby hotel and they spun it so hard that it was judged that he

actually won and ever since we have had a spin room. I want Norman Smith

on my team. In a moment we will be getting the thoughts of Tim

Montgomery from the times, but before we talk to him, we can see

shots of the two men at the heart of the debate arriving at the BBC

earlier. Nigel Farage arrived probably only about 20 minutes ago,

it is fair to say. Few words to journalists on the way in. And Nick

Clegg arriving just before him as well. Asked on the way in whether he

had any nerves, Nick Clegg said he would enjoy it. It is a big debate

on an important issue. He said, I am looking forward to it. The two men

now inside Broadcasting House here in preparation for that debate

inside the BBC Radio Theatre. Now we can talk to Tim Montgomery. Do you

subscribe to this view that it is the second of two and therefore one

man has to deliver some kind of knockout blow? Not particularly.

Both of them will want that knockout blow but this is another example of

politics in Britain to three and politics in Britain to three and

four party politics. Both leaders can lose the debate on the night but

even the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, who won 36% of the vote

according to an opinion poll, that is way more than he is getting in

the polls for the Liberal Democrats, so both are speaking to the parts of

the electorate they want to reach. Both of them can eclipse the

Conservative and Labour parties and win. Is this win`win for UKIP and

the Lib Dems because this is the platform they have always wanted,

for people to listen to them and hear views about Europe? You get

membership has gone up considerably since last week's debate. `` UKIP

membership. Yes, this is oxygen for UKIP, but also for Nick Clegg as

well. People associate him with the broken promise on tuition fees, and

this gives him an opportunity to stand for a cause, Europe, which he

clearly dearly believes in, and fight his corner and establish some

credentials in that regard. Does he need to fight it with more passion?

Nick Clegg needs a little bit more passion, a bit more enthusiasm for

his cause, and perhaps Nigel Farage needs to calm down the anger a

little bit. Anger helps him as the outsider fighting the establishment.

But there are doubts about how rational he is. Upper case

inaudible. `` INAUDIBLE. I think David Cameron wants us inside the

European Union. Good to have you with us. Thank you very much. Let's

go to Hull and find out what people gathered around their television set

to watch it tonight might want to hear and could be hoping for. Tim

Iredale is there. Britain's future membership of the

EU is a huge talking point in this part of the world. Look behind me at

the Marina, where we now see fancy yachts. We once had a huge fishing

fleet for the huge fishing industry here. On the other hand, this is an

area of high on implement. Only last week, the German engineering giant

Siemens announced they would build a huge wind turbine manufacturing port

on the banks of the river Humber, creating 1000 more jobs. There are

activists here from the opposing parties. You are the regional

chairman for UKIP in Yorkshire and the Humber. What do you want to hear

from Nigel Farage tonight? More of the same. We had round one last week

and hopefully tonight Nigel will take that further and dispel the

myths and the lies that Lib Dems talk about when they discuss Europe.

UKIP have said they want to take working`class votes in the North of

England so there is a lot riding on this for Nigel Farage tonight. Yes,

a great deal. We have got a lot of support from old Labour and in Hull,

a staunch Labour city, and now when I am talking to people on the

doorsteps, they are coming to UKIP, seeing us as the alternative party

because they have been abandoned by Labour. Labour cannot defend

themselves tonight, but you are a Lib Dem councillor, Claire Thomas. I

hope Nick manages to talk about the fact that jobs are really important

here. Siemens would not be coming to Hull and investing the money and

bringing the jobs if it was not for the EU. I think that is really

important and a message to get across. It is quite chilly on the

Humber and we are going to retreat to the bar, Farage style, you could

say, and watch this bout of fighting.

I think that means you have to have a pint! Thank you. In the last

debate, and you may know a lot of facts and figures that were thrown

out about Europe, immigration and jobs, it was quite hard sometimes

for the audience to know where the truth lies. Anthony Rubin is the BBC

fact checker and you have got a busy night ahead. Explain how it works

and what to do because potentially these men could be throwing out a

lot of statistics. Last week was an hour of nonstop fact flinging, so we

have lined up pretty much everything they have said in the last six

months together with where it came from and what the context is. And

whether it is convincing. If you are watching at home and want to know

whether you should be believing something, where it has come from,

then you can go to the BBC website, find the live page, and we will be

live fact checking. What you do is fascinating but sometimes tricky. If

one person says a certain percentage of British laws are made in Brussels

and not Westminster, that is quite a grey area to investigate. It is very

difficult, so you have to consider whether you are counting statutes

from Parliament or all regulations in the country, and if you have an

entire act of Parliament, whether having one small part of it that

relates to Europe counts as European legislation. We will try to unpick

everything and get the context. Thank you. We will be talking again

after eight o'clock. You have a busy period after seven o'clock but much

later we will have another chat and try and work through what is thrown

out. Thank you for being with us. Where are we? Goodness. About seven

minutes to go before the debate gets under way. Coming live from the BBC

Radio Theatre inside Broadcasting House, Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg.

They arrived here about half an hour ago. And of course a reminder that

100 members of the public have been selected to try to provide as much

of a cross`section as possible, and the questions they put forward are

selected to give a representative balance of all the thoughts and

issues that people in the audience want to be discussing. We can talk

now to Anne`Marie from BBC Trending. Good evening. A very busy

evening for you as well. Talk us through the social media. People

talk about it online all the time. Instant reaction? It is an

interesting experience to watch this unfold on social media platforms. It

is multifaceted. On the one hand media outlets are live, tweeting

about it, and at the other time there are conversations about the

subject raised during the debate and then the hashtags that arise

Twitter. I have been looking at the statistics about the most popular

hashtags. This one is gaining popularity again

today, so interesting news for the hashtags and conversations around

that. Interesting to look at the number of mentions that Mr Clegg at

Mr Farage got online and Farage got more mentions after the last

debate, but that is not necessarily him winning the debate in the eyes

of people on Twitter. It is more about whether the topics were

controversial or contentious. Some of it can be about personality,

tone, style. It can be about a whole range of issues. And when you look

at the tweets that were the most engaging and made the biggest

impression, the parody pages on Twitter were actually the ones that

people had the most conversations around. So the parity page for Queen

Elizabeth, with over 1 million followers, `` joke page. She said

she could not get a signal, and people were having fictitious

conversations with the Queen, which people enjoyed. And the Fleet Street

Fox, obviously a take on characters from The Simpsons. People want to be

entertained as well as informed on social media. Very busy night ahead.

Thank you for being with us. Let's hear what both the key men here had

to say as they arrived for this debate. We were reflecting that Nick

Clegg was saying he was looking forward to it. Do my best, all you

can do in life. Confident? Well, I am confident that the majority of

the British population want to have this debate, wants to have a say,

and I think many will be quite shocked by some of the things that

Nick Clegg said last week. How are the nerves? I am going to enjoy it,

it is a big debate on an important issue and I am going to look forward

to it. Will it get personal? I hope not. The issues are very important.

Let's see what happens. As we go into this debate, at the top of the

hour, let's try to reflect on all the people we have spoken to here

today. And also everything they have said, which is necessary in the

coming hour. The two men have an opportunity to put their case, if

you like. They have a few minutes at seven o'clock, at the start of the

hour, to put their case to the audience. The subject for discussion

is the EU, Britain in or out. They will have their pre`prepared

remarks, if you like, but crucially, then there are questions from the

floor. It was interesting talking to David Dimbleby earlier. He is

chairing this and he has chaired many debates in his life. He was

reflecting on 190 carried out 40 years ago with two politicians. ``

reflecting on one that he carried out. He said what is striking is

that the issue has barely changed. Europe. As a nation we are still

debating and agonising about the same issues, immigration, jobs,

trade. It is fair to surmise that all of those issues will come up

tonight. An awful lot of policy areas were covered in that first

debate on LBC radio last week. A lot of talk about jobs and trade. Lots

of fact checkers had to go to work quickly when Nick Clegg talked about

3 million jobs being potentially at risk if Britain were to leave the

EU. That in itself is debatable in terms of the specific number. I

asked David Dimbleby if you thought all the topics were being covered,

and he said what he was hoping as the chair of the event would be that

the two men would get to grips even more with each other,

metaphorically. That they would really take head on the other's

arguments and statistics at the other was throwing out. That is what

he hopes to hear. Also questions from the audience. After eight

o'clock, we will be here with full analysis. We will go to the spin

room with lots of politicians as well and I am looking forward to

talking to some members of the audience as they leave the BBC Radio

Theatre for the instant reactions tonight. We will find out what is

being said on social media as well of course. Full coverage from eight

o'clock throughout the night on BBC News. Now let's head inside to the

BBC Radio Theatre for the live debate. Should Britain stay in the

European Union? Tonight,