The three main UK party leaders were laid into by an irreverent and often hostile TV audience last night, in the first-ever live television election debate.

The BBC's Question Time programme gave each leader 30 minutes to face questions from the audience and explain their policies and actions.

The election special started gently with Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, and he won applause as well as criticism for his tax plans, though one questioner described him as "uncharismatic".

Michael Howard was given a rough ride over immigration, with another audience member forcing him to admit his own family probably wouldn't have been let into the UK under his party's policy.

The studio audience also provoked him into admitting to a policy of "regime change plus" under which the Tory leader would have invaded Iraq even if he had known there were no weapons of mass destruction.

But the audience reserved their strongest criticism for the prime minister, subjecting him to a barrage of tough questions and booing over "spun" intelligence and the publication of the attorney general's Iraq war advice.

Blair was also left on the defensive by one member of the audience who said she had been unable to book a doctors' appointment more than 48 hours in advance because of government targets.