THE election TV debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will no longer be held in Southampton.

The two political leaders were expected to go head-to-head in a television debate set to take place in Southampton on December 6.

But today the BBC, which is set to broadcast the debate, has confirmed that it will not be held in the city.

In a statement it said: “The programme is no longer in Southampton because of operational reasons. We will not be disclosing the new location until Friday.”

The debate comes as the Prime Minister and the leader of the Labour Party have already been grilled by journalists in a series of interviews and TV debates.

Both leaders have also been in Southampton over the past week.

As reported, Jeremy Corbyn visited St Mary’s Stadium on November 29 and announced that Labour would create ten new national parks and plant two billion trees in the UK, should the party win the election.

He explained concerns regarding air pollution, noise pollution, sustainability and traffic congestion and said that the party’s green manifesto, a Plan for Nature, is a “serious plan” but would need the backing and support from local communities.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson made a visit to the Associated British Ports in Southampton on Monday.

The Prime Minister said the city has a huge potential and stressed that there can be a balance between the need to tackle environmental issues and the one to support the port that brings money in to the city.

During his visit he stressed the importance of “getting Brexit done” and said Southampton will benefit from the money that the country would be receiving after Brexit.

Both visits were in the Southampton Itchen constituency, one of the places where the election could be won or lost. It comes as in 2017 Conservative Royston Smith won his seat beating Labour candidate Simon Letts by just 31 votes.

Although the one-hour long debate will not be held in Southampton, the BBC has confirmed it will still take place on December 6 and it will be broadcast on BBC One at 8.30pm.

The debate is expected to be the last TV debate before December 12 when hundreds of thousands of people will be heading to the polls to elect a new Parliament in the third national vote in five years.