Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage set for EU radio debate
Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage are set to debate the UK's place in the European Union live on the radio.
The deputy PM, who says his Liberal Democrats are the "party of in", challenged the UKIP leader, who wants the UK to leave the EU, to a debate in the run-up to the European elections.
Mr Clegg argues that even threatening to leave the EU threatens British jobs.
Mr Farage believes EU membership is "the most important issue this country has faced for hundreds of years".
Following negotiations between the two party leaders and broadcasters, two debates have been arranged. The first will be broadcast on LBC radio. On 2 April, round two will be televised live on BBC Two.
'Festering mistruths'Live text and video coverage on the BBC news website will accompany both transmissions.
Both men will be hoping to bolster their parties' fortunes in May's elections to the European Parliament.
Strict arrangements for the conduct of the debate have been put in place, as they were ahead of the televised 2010 general election leaders' debates.
Questions from the audience, which has been selected to reflect the UK population as well as a range of views on the EU, will be screened by an editorial panel but the parties will not see them in advance.
The party leaders will both make opening and closing statements and will have one minute to answer questions from the audience before presenter Nick Ferrari opens up the subjects raised to debate.
In an article for the Daily Mirror, Mr Clegg, a former East Midlands MEP who speaks French, German, Spanish and Dutch, said it was easy to attack the EU.
"It's easily presented as a distant set of institutions, making decisions for us from overseas. It's not always clear what happens there, who the politicians are, or how it benefits us," he wrote.
"This is why so many mistruths have been allowed to fester.
"Tonight, when I debate with Nigel Farage, I want to give the British people the facts - so that you can make up your own minds about whether or not Britain should remain in the EU."
'Lightweight battle'Mr Farage previously said he had been inspired to enter politics because "we weren't having a proper talk" about the "great question of who governs our country: our own Parliament... or the European Commission and the other institutions in Brussels".
Mr Farage continued: "I've battled on for 20 years, I've been laughed at, ridiculed, attacked. But at no point in the 15 years that I've now been an MEP have we ever had a full national debate about the merits or demerits of EU membership.
"Therefore, when the deputy PM says he wants to go public and have a debate with me on this issue, I have absolutely no choice.
"I've got to say yes, because we need to have a national debate on what I think is the most important issue this country has faced for hundreds of years."
But Labour's shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Ashworth said: "This is a lightweight battle between two men who will never be prime minister."
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