David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband sign up to Google+

Political leaders from all the three main UK parties have reportedly signed up to Google+, the US search engine giant's new social networking site.

Prime Minister David Cameron, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband are understood to all have their own profiles on the site, which is currently in beta phase.

Conservative leader David Cameron said: "Anything that makes politics more open and accessible is to be welcomed, and I am proud that British politicians are leading the way when it comes to embracing new methods of engaging people online, from e-petitions to the latest developments in social media."

Miliband, who was heckled by trade union leaders this week, said: "Labour is determined to be a party that looks outwards, not inwards. That means talking to people, but also listening and responding to them too. That's what I've been using social media for, and that's what I'll keep doing."

Deputy prime minister Clegg added: "The Liberal Democrats are always open to new and innovative ways of communicating with voters, so creating a Google+ account was an easy and logical step."

Google+ has attracted an estimated 25 million members worldwide since it was launched as a trial in June. The site features Circles, a way for users to share content with specific groups of people, as well as live video "hangouts", both of which could be readily used by politicians.

Matt Brittin, the managing director for Google UK, said: "It's great to see David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband embracing new innovations. Britain's political parties and the UK government are leading the world with new innovations in citizen engagement, from Google+ to online petitions and open data."

Google recently shut down ten online products to concentrate on the Google+ service, as it prepares to go head to head with Twitter and Facebook.

However, reports indicate that Facebook has delayed plans to go public as it focuses on developing the next generation of products that will safeguard its position as the world's largest social network.