Theresa May may agree to televised Q&A - but no debate

Theresa May could agree to a televised question-and-answer session with voters after ruling out a head-to-head election debate with other party leaders.

The Prime Minister has been accused by rivals of running scared and trying to avoid scrutiny after she rejected the idea of TV debates, saying she preferred to get "out and about" meeting voters.

She is now understood to be open to the idea of a televised Q&A session after ITV confirmed it would be holding a leaders' debate even though she was refusing to take part.

A Sky Data poll suggests that 64% of Britons believe there should be televised debates between party leaders during the General Election campaign.

Only 31% of those surveyed thought no such events should take place between now and polling day on 8 June - while 5% said they were unsure.

After telling the Commons on Wednesday she was proud of what the Conservatives had achieved in government, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked: "If Theresa May is so proud of her record, why won't she debate it?

"She cannot be allowed to run away from her duty to democracy and refuse to let the British people hear the arguments directly."

When asked by Sky News after a campaign event in Bolton whether she would reconsider taking part in televised debates, Mrs May said: "I'm going to be campaigning out and around every community in the country."

Downing Street sources later told Sky News that Mrs May was considering a number of TV programme formats, but reiterated that there would be no head-to-head debates.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron told Sky News he was "very disappointed" that Mrs May was unwilling to attend any TV debate.

He said: "It seems to me she feels she has got everything to lose by going on television and debating myself and others."

Both Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party have called on broadcasters who hold TV debates to "empty chair" Theresa May if she declines their invitations.

During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, the SNP's leader in the Commons, Angus Robertson, asked: "If the Prime Minister is so confident of her hard-Brexit, pro-austerity, anti-immigration case, why won't she debate opposition leaders?"

Although a mainstay of US presidential elections for decades, the first live TV debates during a UK general election were only held in 2010.