Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage are to go head-to-head on BBC television in a debate on Britain's future in Europe.
The hour-long debate will be shown on BBC2 from 7pm on Wednesday, 2 April, and will be hosted by David Dimbleby.
Mr Clegg's Liberal Democrats are the most pro-EU of the main parties at Westminster, while Mr Farage's UKIP advocates withdrawing from the EU.
They have been involved in a growing spat over the issue, ahead of May's European elections.
Last month, Mr Farage accepted Mr Clegg's invitation to a televised "open debate" on whether the UK should stay in the EU.
'Fantastic opportunity'The BBC said the televised debate would take place in front of an audience "selected by a reputable polling organisation to be demographically representative and with an equal number of people for and against British membership of the EU". Questions will come from the audience members.
End Quote Nigel Farage UKIP leaderWe engage sufficiently here and we use that information to get a debate going back in the UK"
James Harding, Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, said: "We are delighted to have negotiated successfully to broadcast this important debate. Europe is always a highly charged issue in British politics and this is a fantastic opportunity to test the arguments."
It comes as Mr Clegg accused the UK Independence Party leader and his colleagues in the European Parliament of failing to "stand up for Britain".
In a speech on the EU's role later, Mr Clegg will say Mr Farage "rarely" turns up to vote in Brussels and should "get down to work".
'Hundreds of amendments'But Mr Farage said that some of the deputy prime minister's comments were factually "quite wrong".
In a speech to the Centre for European Reform think tank later, the deputy prime minister will launch an attack on his rival, saying: "Nigel Farage and deputy leader Paul Nuttall rarely turn up to vote in the European Parliament, despite being happy to take their taxpayer-funded salaries.
"UKIP MEPs refuse to roll up their sleeves and get down to work. Nigel Farage hasn't tabled a single amendment to EU legislation since July 2009."
But Mr Clegg, himself a former MEP, will acknowledge a need for some reform, saying: "Where the EU has become intrusive, it needs to be pushed back.
"We want to keep the UK opted out of rules we believe are damaging, like the 48-hour cap on the working week in the Working Time Directive.
"Working with our allies, the UK is already taking action to cut excessive EU red tape, saving thousands of pounds for thousands of small business across Britain."
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Farage explained: "We're being told that UKIP doesn't spend enough time in the European Parliament.
"But the reason for that is that our objective as MEPs is not to keep voting endlessly for more EU legislation and to take power away from Westminster.
"Our view for 15 years here has been we engage sufficiently here and we use that information to get a debate going back in the UK, and it seems to me that given the debate we are now having on the EU the UKIP policy has been pretty successful."
He also said that the group of MEPs that he leads, the "Europe of Freedom and Democracy", had "put down hundreds of amendments since 2009, so factually Nick Clegg is quite wrong in what he's saying here".
But he concluded: "We don't believe [the EU] can be amended or changed. We want to get divorced from it so we can get back to running our own country."
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