The legal threat came within hours of the announcement that the TV broadcasters had put forward fresh proposals in a so-called ‘7-7-2’ format. It would mean two of the debates would include seven parties – the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, the Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
Mr Galloway said: “We don’t want the seven dwarfs, we want the real deal – so let’s make it eight parties. My lawyers are on this now and we will be writing to the broadcasters, the watchdog Ofcom and the Prime Minister, if necessary, so these debates don’t go ahead without me. I look forward to the other leaders on the platform, saying ‘I agree with George’.”
Mr Galloway said he expected Respect to stand about 25 candidates at the General Election in May, in London, Birmingham and Sheffield as well as Bradford. However the minimum number of candidates for a party election broadcast is 89 leaving Respect 64 short. The Respect party only have 1 elected representative - Mr Galloway, the have no councillors, MEPs or members in any of the devolved assemblies/parliaments.
Mr Galloway said: “We don’t want the seven dwarfs, we want the real deal – so let’s make it eight parties. My lawyers are on this now and we will be writing to the broadcasters, the watchdog Ofcom and the Prime Minister, if necessary, so these debates don’t go ahead without me. I look forward to the other leaders on the platform, saying ‘I agree with George’.”
Mr Galloway said he expected Respect to stand about 25 candidates at the General Election in May, in London, Birmingham and Sheffield as well as Bradford. However the minimum number of candidates for a party election broadcast is 89 leaving Respect 64 short. The Respect party only have 1 elected representative - Mr Galloway, the have no councillors, MEPs or members in any of the devolved assemblies/parliaments.
