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As it currently stands, Nicola Sturgeon will not be invited to take part in the televised leadership debates prior to next year's Westminster GE. This is despite: 1) The SNP having the third highest membership of any party in Britain 2) Current polling showing that the SNP stand to win 10 times as many seats as UKIP, who are looking likely to be included, and possibly twice as many as one of the parties currently in government. Therefore, the only excuse for excluding the SNP is that they are not a 'British' party, who only field candidates in a certain part of the country. So.... While I'm fully aware that it's obviously not going to happen, if the SNP put up 50-100 candidates in the rest of the UK, there would be no reason to exclude Nicola Sturgeon from the debates. A GE is of course no place to try and pick up protest votes, and the vast majority would clearly receive minimal support. However, by standing in urban seats throughout the country, and in towns in the North of England, the Party could stress that with the high number of seats it expects to win in Scotland, the SNP could and would force a Labour government further to the left in any possible coalition deal. This may even help a few candidates to hold on to their deposit. Might even win in Corby