VIDEO: Theresa May’s no show and five things we learned from last night’s BBC TV debate

REPRESENTATIVES from the major political parties took part in a BBC debate at Senate House in Cambridge.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Tory Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, the SNP’s Westminster and deputy leader Angus Robertson, Ukip’s Paul Nuttal, Green co-leader Caroline Lucas and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood faced questions from the audience and engaged in heated discussion on a number of topics.

Here are five things we learned from last night’s debate.

Tim Farron was quick out of the blocks to get a dig in over Theresa May’s no-show

Amber Rudd was the odd one out

Mrs May declined to attend, instead dispatching the Home Secretary to represent her party. The Tories said the party leader was talking to voters on the campaign trail and “not swapping soundbites with six other politicians”.

Nicola Sturgeon also missed the debate, sending her SNP deputy Angus Robertson who is standing for election in Moray, but those party behemoths on the podium did not waste an opportunity to highlight the absence of the Prime Minister.

Mr Farron said it left a “shadow”, while Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood simply claimed Mrs May “couldn’t even be bothered” to attend. Even Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, chipped in, saying: “The first rule of leadership is to show up.”

Jeremy Corbyn brought a prop

Corbyn goes for the old bring a prop trick – it's Labour's manifesto costings. #BBCDebate

— Arj Singh (@singharj) May 31, 2017

The Labour leader showed the manifesto to the audience – and read from it during the debate during a section on public service spending.

The day before, during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, he faltered several times when repeatedly asked to give a cost for the pledge to roll out free care to all two- to four-year-olds.

Paul Nuttall did not call anyone Natalie

It was an achievement, of sorts, for the Ukip leader, who attracted headlines in his previous televised debate when he twice referred to Plaid Cymru’s leader as “Natalie”.

It was perhaps a case of too many cooks

The BBC might have been delighted with the high concentration of party big-hitters, boosted by Mr Corbyn’s late decision to join them. But having so many politicians on the podium, at the same time, meant an awful lot of verbal crossfire.

At one stage it was almost impossible to distinguish between the seven competing voices – eight including compere Mishal Husain – during which not a single comprehensible word of argument could be heard. A conch shell may be a better idea for future summits.