Sunday Politics

Nigel Farage says that "prior to 2004, UKIP as a political party didn't even talk about immigration as an issue", because the net migration into the UK was only approximately 30,000. He says the "big, big moment" causing immigration problems was the opening of British borders to citizens of ten former Communist countries - as they joined the EU - in 2004.

Sunday Politics

Asked why the head of UKIP's LGBT group - who accused the UKIP leadership of not setting a "gay-friendly" tone - has resigned, Nigel Farage says people in a voluntary organisation are free to leave whenever they wish. He points out that his party does have that LGBT group, has selected two gay parliamentary candidates, and gave a rapturous reception to Kellie Maloney, who spoke about transgender issues at the UKIP spring conference yesterday. He concludes: "Repeated attempts to paint UKIP as homophobic come to nothing."

He agrees that UKIP don't set a gay-friendly agenda, but points out it also doesn't set a "male-friendly agenda or a female-friendly agenda". He adds: "The most important thing is we all live together equally under the law."

Sunday Politics

Nigel Farage is now speaking to Andrew Neil down the. He says that if Russia were to invade one of the Baltic states, he would "of course" support a robust Nato response.

Sunday Politics

Liam Byrne tells Andrew Neil that Labour need to get the policy right as "the current system is going bust", and will add £281bn to the national debt by 2030. Tripling fees meant that three quarters of students will never pay off their debts, and "we can't afford that", he says. Labour's plan intends to fully fund the higher education system by "asking the wealthiest in Britain to fund more." He claims "the challenge is now on the Tories to rule out raising tuition fees up to £15,000" in order to fill the funding gap.

Sunday Politics

Shadow Universities Minister Liam Byrne tells Andrew Neil he is an "evangelist" for the Labour policy - announced this week - that the party would reduce tuition fees by a third. He says in the long-term he does believe a graduate tax is the right thing to do, but that the party currently can't commit to ensuring a graduate tax would work, as opposed to the "fully costed" policy they've decided to pursue.

Sunday Politics

Lots to come in the next hour on the Sunday Politics, with UKIP leader Nigel Farage talking to Andrew Neil following UKIP's spring conference in the past couple of days. Also on the programme, interviews with Conservative former defence secretary Liam Fox, and shadow universities minister Liam Byrne. Watch the programme now live on BBC One, or in the Live Coverage tab at the top of this page.

BBC Radio 5 live

William Dartmouth describes Labour's plans to introduce a "sin-bin" system, allowing the Commons speaker to send out misbehaving MPs for an hour for the first warning, or for three sessions if they are a repeat offender, as "an absolutely rotten idea." Transport Minister Stephen Hammond agrees "it's overkill". He complains that the public are judging the politicians by Prime Minister's Questions, "where passions run high."

BBC Radio 5 live

The panel of politicians with John Pienaar are discussing a new Labour proposal to introduce a "sin-bin" system for MPs who get a little too excited at Prime Minister's Questions. Although the proposal is not yet entirely fleshed out, all politicians agree they have a soft spot for the one time of the week when there can be the liveliest back-and-forth between government and opposition - and the highest public viewing figures for the House of Commons.

BBC Radio 5 live

Click the tab at the top of the page to listen in to BBC Radio 5 Live as a panel of politicians, including shadow foreign affairs minister Gareth Thomas, UKIP's William Dartmouth, Liberal Democrat Treasury Minister Lord Newby and Transport Minister Stephen Hammond debate the day's political hot topics on Pienaar's Politics.

BBC Radio 5 live

William Legge, a UKIP MEP and the 10th Earl of Dartmouth, tells John Pienaar it is "absolutely risible" to hear Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey talking about British values since it was the coalition government, with Labour's help, who implemented the European Arrest Warrant - which he describes as the "biggest attack on British Values."

BBC Radio 5 live

Grant Shapps denies that the disagreement between Conservatives and Lib Dems over so-called hate preachers on university campuses constitutes a coalition "row", saying that "if I had a pound for every time people told me there was a coalition row, not only would I be very wealthy but this coalition would have ended years ago". But he admits there is some difference of opinion, and says the Conservatives want to "err on the side of caution" and draw the line of acceptable speech closer to "protecting the security of the British public".

BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, Press Association

Grant Shapps says he has no problem with MPs holding second jobs as long as it is "completely transparent". He says the way to avoid controversy is to "publish what you're doing, have full transparency and disclosure", and he adds that he doesn't want the House of Commons stuffed with 650 professional politicians "who have never done anything else in their life".

tweets, external: I was reading about @grantshapps, external on @SkyNews , externalthen he pounds out of my speakers on @bbc5live , external@JPonpolitics, external Sunday politics conveyor belt.

BBC Radio 5 live

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps tells John Pienaar he'll start with some nice words about the Lib Dems, praising Nick Clegg's party by saying they "haven't wavered on their desire to see the deficit got under control", even though it would have been "easy to do so".

BBC Radio 5 live

The Times columnist Jenni Russell says MPs and the media have been "absolutely juvenile about this whole coalition business", and have chosen to criticise Nick Clegg's party "as if they had freedom of action in government". She says the Lib Dems were "hopelessly naive about the political process when they went into government", but adds that if the British people don't vote in a majority government, voters cannot complain when politicians negotiate and compromise after the election. Ed Davey, unsurprisingly, agrees.

Sky News

Grant Shapps accuses Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable of blocking Conservative moves to crack down on "hate preachers" in universities. "There is a difference of opinion", he tells Murnaghan: "Cable doesn't want to do what the Conservatives want to do."

BBC Radio 5 live

Ed Davey - referencing the trebling of tuition fees earlier in this government - says it is "easy to pick that one out" to criticise the Lib Dems, but he says voters should focus on the "75% of the manifesto commitments [from 2010] that we delivered" under the coalition agreement.

Sky News

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps is now on Murnaghan. He says the solution to Britain's housing problem is pushing people to make brown-field sites available for self-build programmes. He pledges 100,000 new starter homes, which can be purchased at 80% of market value, will be built if the Conservatives get into power. "Government support" and forcing the market "to step up to the plate" will make up the estimated £3.6bn cost of this project, Mr Shapps says.

BBC Radio 5 live

Ed Davey says the Lib Dems would refuse to sign up to the "stupid" policy of Labour's to reduce tuition fees, in the event of coalition negotiations after the May election. He says it is better to spend £2bn on something other than benefiting the "richer graduates" of universities.

Sky News

Over on Sky's Murnaghan programme, Dr Afzal Ashraf, a consultant fellow at the defence and international affairs think-tank the Royal United Services Institute, says it is "complete nonsense" to suggest that MI5 would have driven Mohammed Emwazi to join Islamic State.