In Scotland, the forthcoming general election will unfold in a very different way to the rest of the United Kingdom. It seems almost inevitable that the Conservatives will command a majority in the House of Commons, with diminished Labour representation and an unspectacular showing from the Liberal Democrats. However, according to a recent PoliticsHome poll, north of the border the SNP will receive the largest share of the popular vote, ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives.

According to the poll, Labour would remain the party with the most Westminster MPs in Scotland, with the Lib Dems second and the SNP coming a close third. The Conservatives would gain only one additional Scottish seat and remain a virtual non-entity in terms of Scottish representation. It is in this context that the Nationalists are perfectly entitled to a level of representation in the televised debates that will be shown in Scotland in the run up to the elections.

There is a need for broadcasters to address the political imbalance that a three-party debate in Scotland would entail. It is nonsensical that David Cameron, with his one MP north of the border, should feature in a debate broadcast in Scotland, whilst there is no representation for the party with the greatest popular support.

The SNP's exclusion plays into the hands of those who claim that the UK's mainstream broadcasters do not represent Scotland. The BBC has attempted to make its news and current affairs coverage more relevant to Scotland since the 2008 King Report; the absence of the SNP would damage those efforts.

Rather than three British-wide debates, it would make more sense for broadcasters to host regional debates for Scotland and Wales. These regional debates would not be irrelevant elsewhere; research for the King Report found that 62 percent of people in the UK believe it is important to understand the different politics of the other nations in the union. Not only would this allow the three party leaders to present their approaches to the devolved institutions in these areas, it would also allow the SNP and Plaid Cymru to be represented in a format more representative of the political diversity of the UK.

David Cameron has already alluded to regional debates, saying that Salmond is entitled to a debate with Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie whenever he likes. However, if he is serious about engaging with the Scottish public and answering the questions that will inevitably arise regarding the country's future in the union, then it would be foolish to ignore a televised debate in Scotland.

A decision not to include the SNP on any level would lead to calls that broadcasters are not taking Scottish political autonomy seriously. The SNP commands the most support amongst the Scottish electorate, and for this reason alone we should have a regional debate in which the the four-way political system in Scotland is reflected.