TWO of Southall's biggest political heavyweights have come to blows again, this time over last night's televised debates between the UK's three main party leaders.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg went toe-to-toe last night during a 90 minute debate on ITV1.

Following the debate, Virendra Sharma, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Ealing Southall, posted his thoughts on the Gazette's election website .

He said: "It was the night David Cameron was exposed as a lightweight. It was a succession of lines and slogans, not a vision for Britain that we saw. His inexperience and the sense he will say and do anything to get elected is becoming more of an issue with voters.

"As Gordon Brown said last night, it's not question time, it's answer time."

Reacting to Mr Sharma's comments, Gurcharan Singh, the Conservative candidate for Ealing Southall, said: "If you look at some of the more recent polls it shows that Gordon Brown came in third so I'm not sure what he's talking about. The debate clearly showed that Mr Cameron did well. All this shows is that Mr Sharma has no understanding of how politics works in this country."

Liberal Democrat candidate for Southall, Nigel Bakhai, said: "Most opinion polls are showing that Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has won a convincing victory over his Tory and Labour opponents."

Find out what the candidates are saying about the election campaign (and about each other) on the Ealing Gazette elections website .