article_snippet: Labour have accused the Prime Minister of 'ducking and weaving' to get out of the debates and called for new laws to make sure leaders debates always take place.
article_snippet: Ed Miliband said Ed Miliband would make 'fair and impartial leaders' debates' compulsory.
article_snippet: the former SNP leader Alex Salmond said the former SNP leader Alex Salmond supported having TV debates but added: 'Could you actually pass a law which says that somebody has to turn up at a TV debate? '
article_snippet: Surely it's the public who have got to enforce the TV debates by the reaction to people who are too scared to turn up.'
article_snippet: Labour said the new system would work on similar lines to the current rules for planning the number, length and timing of party political broadcasts.
article_snippet: That would mean parties are consulted but not given the right to veto the debates taking place.
article_snippet: Labour believes this could be done by establishing the Broadcasters' Liaison Group as a trust in statute so it is the recognised legal body for deciding dates, format, volume and attendees of the debates.
article_snippet: A Labour government would set a deadline of 2017 for changes to be put in place, giving more than enough time to plan the debates for a 2020 election.
article_snippet: Ed Miliband added: 'It is time to ensure, once and for all, that these debates belong to the people, not the prime minister of the day.'
article_snippet: But deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said there should be a legal framework underpinning the TV debates as there is in relation to pre-election broadcasts and election spending.
article_snippet: deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman told Sky News' Murnaghan: 'I think the debates are an important part of our democracy, in which case let's not have the prime minister of the day ducking and weaving because the prime minister of the day is afraid of actually justifying the prime minister of the day record. '
article_snippet: Let's have a legal framework set out
highlights_snippet: Comes as Labour unveils plan to make election debates compulsory .
  
highlights_snippet: Leaders would not be forced to attend but debates would always go ahead .