First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and former London mayor Boris Johnson will clash over the EU referendum on Thursday evening in a live debate on STV.

Sturgeon will join Labour MP Angela Eagle and Conservative MP Amber Rudd to argue for a Remain vote in this month's referendum.

They will come up against Johnson, his fellow Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom and Labour MP Gisela Stuart, who will put forward the case for UK to leave the EU.

The opposing sides will be kept apart by ITV's Julie Etchingham who will moderate the debate.

There may be six politicians on the stage but most eyes will only be on two: Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson.

The pair are the most experienced debaters of the panellists and out of the six they have both managed the largest portfolios in their ministerial careers.

Here is how the political heavyweights shape up:

The First Minister will put forward a case for remaining in the EU based on cooperation and social rights.

Sturgeon has a wealth of experience in both parliamentary questions and televised debates.

She led the SNP's questions at First Minister's Questions between 2003 to 2007. Throughout the independence referendum campaign the SNP leader took part in televised debates.

Her biggest TV debate so far has been the UK general election debate in May 2015. She of course as First Minister faces questions every Thursday at Holyrood.

The SNP leader will be preparing for jibes at how she wants Scotland to be independent from the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but how she wants to wed the nation to the European Union.

Johnson will argue in his well-known bombastic style that the EU restricts the rights of elected British governments to run the country.

He will link immigration to the need for Westminster to have full sovereignty with the ability to restrict the number of migrants entering the country.

Throughout the campaign the economy has proved to be an awkward topic for the Vote Leave campaign to deal with. To tackle this the former London mayor will talk about global trade.

Expect to hear him argue the EU is a trading bloc in decline and that Britain should look more globally to the United States and China.

You can watch the live debate on STV at 8pm and on the STV Player.