The first ever TV debate between the three candidates to be the next Chancellor has seen Lib Dem Vince Cable win a clear victory. In a Channel 4 on-line poll carried out immediately after the debate, Vince out-polled both Alistair Darling and George Osborne.

The Channel 4 vote results are at http://tinyurl.com/yza4m6a and place Vince Cable as clearly ahead of both the Labour and Conservative contenders:

• 36% Vince Cable
• 32% Alistair Darling
• 32% George Osborne

BBC Commentator Nick Robinson said on the 10 o’clock news that “it was Vince Cable who generated the most applause.”

A separate Yougov / Channel 4 poll carried out on the eve of tonight’s “Ask The Chancellors” debate on asked voters of all parties which of the three men would be best for the job. 26 per cent picked Mr Cable, against 17 per cent for the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, with just 12 per cent opting for the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne. You can read more at http://tinyurl.com/yks5lza

The Guardian’s “Wiintour and Watt” blog at http://tinyurl.com/yl9rf3r said that “The consensus tonight, at Westminster and in the Twittersphere, is that ‘King Vince’ was the runaway winner of the first major televised debate of the general election campaign.”

You can watch Vince Cable‘s closing statement again online at http://j.mp/cyxywl

You can join the Liberal Democrats at www.libdems.org.uk/join_us.aspx