House of Commons
Parliament

David Cameron says sanctions against Russia should be deepened if there is further destabilisation in Ukraine. He says the Baltic states and Poland are likely to agree.

House of Commons
Parliament

The first question for David Cameron is on Europe and its approach on Russia over Ukraine. Mr Cameron says there is a case to bring forward the renewal of sanctions against Russia to "make a very strong statement". He says he hopes there will be agreement on sanctions. Britain, he says, has a strong role to play.

House of Commons
Parliament

Prime Minister David Cameron is appearing before the Liaison Committee. We'll have live updates here.

The Huffington Post

Image source, Reuters

UKIP's Douglas Carswell has played down policy differences with party leader Nigel Farage, the Huffington Post reports., external Speaking at an event in central London, the Clacton MP said: "I don't think I could get into a lift at the moment without somebody writing an article somewhere saying Nigel Farage would have take the stairs. I keep on being told that whatever I do is at odds with the party leader, it is simply not the case."

The Spectator

Here's Isabel Hardman's take on Green Party leader Natalie Bennett's performance in interviews today. She writes, external: "The whole episode tells us a lot about how the Green party views its appeal to voters. Yes, yes, it's embarrassing that a party leader boasting about a flagship housing policy ended up sitting in the most painful silence imaginable while she tried to think of how that policy would actually, you know, work. But clearly if she thought that knowing the details of the policy would be important, she might have checked the details before walking into the LBC studio with Nick Ferrari. Clearly she did not."

Tweets, external: Where does Natalie Bennett's LBC meltdown rank in the 20 worst car crashes? She'd be fighting for No 1 in this list, external

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BBC Radio 5 live

Author Jeffrey Archer - the former Tory grandee who was jailed for perjury - has told BBC Radio 5 live he feels "immense sympathy" for Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind over the "cash-for-access" controversy. Here's a clip of his interview.

Sir Alistair Graham - former chair of the Commons committee on standards in public life - has told BBC News he was surprised Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw had fallen for the Dispatches/Telegraph "sting", which he said was "not very convicting". He added: "These are two very respected, experienced parliamentarians who must know the rules inside out, who must know the potential damage."

The government is admitting it hasn't been able to trace around 142,000 policyholders entitled to compensation following the collapse of the life assurance company Equitable Life in 2000. Treasury Minister Andrea Leadsom (pictured) says despite going to "significant lengths" to find them it has not been possible to trace or validate their addresses. So far the government's compensation scheme - set up in 2010 - has paid out more than £1bn to almost 900,000 policyholders.

Labour has announced plans to hold a Commons vote on MPs holding paid directorships or consultancies. A party spokesperson says: "Labour MPs and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates have already been put on notice that from the coming general election the party's standing orders will be changed to prevent them holding such second jobs. David Cameron once promised change but now defends a discredited status quo and has refused to follow Ed Miliband's lead. This is his chance to vote for an important measure which would help restore trust in politics."

House of Commons
Parliament

Here's a bit more from the Common's debate involving the commission bill and Jack Straw. As was mentioned in an earlier entry (14:33 GMT) despite the recent allegations surrounding the former foreign secretary he was praised for his "amazing chairmanship" of the Commons Governance Committee. Although Mr Straw did not make any direct reference to the "cash-for-access" row, he said he did not mind being praised... "least of all today".

Tweets, external: Natalie Bennett pulls out of LBC phone-in tonight, citing illness. This happened earlier, external

The "cash-for-access" claims and Sir Malcolm Rifkind's decision to quit as an MP have generated a lot of reaction from our readers. Here is a selection of your comments.

What a great loss to the politics of our nation - a great mind always worth listening to. We will never have the calibre of political leaders if we are to deny individuals their experience outside Westminster. We need men and women from the world of industry and commerce without removing their continuing contact, just as we need those from all walks of life.

Richard Booth

Rifkind's comment that £67k is not enough for MPs both shocks and disgusts me. How can he possibly think that? There are plenty of talented, intelligent and equally hard-working professionals in this country who earn less than that and yet would do a far better job than the majority of MPs.

John Anthony

The only real fault of Malcolm Rifkind was to describe himself as self-employed and not salaried. I didn't think it was possible for me to feel any sympathy for a Tory of any stripe but I feel this is a very sad end to a political career.

Tom Toher

If MPs are so desperate to earn private sector scale salaries perhaps they should just go and work in the private sector. I am not convinced you need to pay ridiculous salaries to get competent people to do the job.

Rich, Leeds

Tweets, external: Heading from final round of i/views: in summary-apologies for my failure in presenting xcellent social housing policy, external

The Daily Telegraph

Reacting to Natalie Bennett's interview on LBC earlier, the Telegraph's Graeme Archer reflects on a radio appearance of his own that didn't go according to plan and says he feels some sympathy for the Green leader. But he adds: "There's a big difference between Natalie and me: I'm not asking for your vote. I have no plans to be the nation's government. It doesn't seem too big a request to make of party leaders that they should master whatever material their brief contains, before attempting to sell it to us on the airwaves." More here, external.

Peter Robinson, the DUP leader, says on the BBC Trust's decision: "This is another welcome step in the battle to achieve fairness for Northern Ireland in the BBC's general election coverage. With other regional parties, who have fewer seats and fewer votes than us, included in the debates, the DUP is simply requesting fair treatment."

He adds: "We stand by our complaint that the exclusion of the DUP from the televised debates which include other smaller parties is unlawful, irrational and in breach of the BBC's duties regarding impartiality."

tweet: , externalSpeaker on Rifkind/Straw: I have in past suggested a lot of members of the public would expect members of parliament to do a fulltime job

The Democratic Unionist Party says the BBC Trust has ruled that its appeals board should consider the party's challenge against its exclusion from the BBC's general election televised debate.

Have you listened to Natalie Bennett's interview on LBC? Does it make you less likely to back the Greens at the election? Or should we be more forgiving to politicians? Let us know your thoughts using the Get Involved tab on desktop or email the Politics Live team at politics@bbc.co.uk