Theresa May to finally answer questions from the public in Facebook Q&A session

It is part of an election campaign that is mostly being conducted behind closed doors

(Dylan Martinez/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Theresa May is going to finally take questions from the public – live on Facebook.

The Prime Minister has been relatively protected throughout her general election campaign. That has included locking journalists in cupboards and taking pre-approved questions, and only meeting members of the public that have been vetted before.

But Ms May will now participate in a live question and answer session on Facebook, taking questions from the public.

The Q&A will allow people to comment on the video live – asking questions, but also registering their disapproval through the site’s reaction buttons, which include anger and sadness as well as more positive emotions.

Recent live videos showing controversial politicians such as Sean Spicer have become the site of a new form of protest – reacting to them with a range of angry faces, which then spread across the Facebook video and get in the way of whatever is being shown.

The live session will be run by ITV News and hosted on its Facebook page. Political editor Robert Peston will put the public’s questions to Ms May, and a live audience will be able to interject.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, Liberal Democrat Tim Farron, Ukip’s Paul Nuttall, Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood and Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas have also been invited to take part in the live sessions.

The Prime Minister is still refusing to take part in any TV debate with those leaders. That is despite her rivals agreeing to such an event, and TV stations committing to host one.