• Election 2015 badge

David Cameron Refuses Ed Miliband's Offer Of A One-On-One Debate

The prime minister is too busy on the road to sign up for a final showdown, a senior source told BuzzFeed News.

Ed Miliband pleaded with David Cameron in last night's TV debate to agree to a final one-on-one contest.

vine.co

But the prime minister has no intention of agreeing to a showdown.

Speaking on the campaign trial in the West Midlands, Cameron dismissed Miliband's offer. "We've had 146 debates at Prime Minister's Questions," he said. "I think people have seen a lot of those to get the measure of us."

A source close to Cameron told BuzzFeed News the prime minister had agreed to a package of pre-election programmes and would stick to it.

"After two to three months of torturous negotiations with the broadcasters, we reached a deal on a package of programmes and that's what we'll stick to," the source said.

"Let Ed Miliband talk about TV debates – we're focused on securing a better future for the millions of families across the country. If you look at the PMQs debates, I think it's pretty clear who's the winner."

Under the deal agreed with broadcasters, Cameron faces just one more official TV event before the election on 7 May.

He'll take part in a special Question Time on BBC One on 30 April. Miliband and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will appear separately to answer questions from a studio audience.

The prime minister's only face-to-face TV showdown with Miliband during the election campaign happened during a seven-way debate with other party leaders. That took place after Cameron and Miliband endured separate grillings from interviewer Jeremy Paxman in a Sky/Channel 4 programme.