tweets, external: From my @TheTimes column: 92% think winning votes is top of a politician's mind when they write manifestos. 4% say it's the nation's needs

BBC Radio 4

Intelligence and Security Committee member, Labour MP Hazel Blears, tells World at One the bulk data referred to in the committees' report "are not medical records, not tax records, they are lists of numbers and data that… can be used to combat terrorism".

"We have seen the data sets", she says, adding the committee is confident that these are necessary. But she says the committee wants a new law to clarify things anyway.

BBC Radio 4

Eric King, director at Privacy International, tells World at One that one of the clear things his organisation has discovered in its dealing with GCHQ is the organisation's interpretation of the law and its circumvention "can be very liberal".

"This is the first time that an oversight committee has attempted to honestly explain what GCHQ does on a day to day basis and they have gone further than anyone has attempted to before. What is clear to me is that GCHQ is a mass surveillance organisation," he says.

tweets, external: .@HazelBlearsMP on greater #ISC access: "It's a very different situation... than it was even just a few years ago" #wato #ISCreport

tweets, external: YouGov: "Our latest voting intention figures for The Sun this morning are CON 34%, LAB 35%, LDEM 7%, UKIP 14%, GRN 5%."

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has been responding to the intelligence and security committee. She says: "Our intelligence agencies and the police do incredible work to keep our country safe from threats to our democracy and our freedom. At a time of increasing terror threats, and new problems such as online child abuse, they need to be able to keep up with new technology.

"But the oversight and legal safeguards need to keep up too. It is in the interests of the agencies that there should be a clearer framework of safeguards to sustain continued confidence in the important work they do.

"Too often the Tories and the Liberal Democrats within the government have tried to set up a caricatured argument between security on the one hand and liberty on the other. Yet most people know its vital to protect both in our democracy, and we need a thoughtful debate about how to get the detail right. That's what this report does."

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

"We can find 0.7% of spending but we can't find the political will to find 2% of spending on Defence," Billericay Conservative MP John Baron tells the Daily Politics "It may not be a political hot potato on the doorstep now," he adds, but it won't take long for it to become one if the UK faces a military crisis and there are plenty of security issues in the world today.

David Cameron has been speaking about Nigel Farage's comments on race relation laws.

The prime minister says: "I think what Nigel Farage has said it is completely wrong and frankly pretty appalling. The reason these laws are in place is to stop people being discriminated against on the basis of the colour of their skin.

"He now seems to be saying he didn't say what he did say - I have to say ... I've been talking about the forthcoming election being about competence versus chaos. I think Nigel Farage is demonstrating the sort of chaos we don't need in our public life."

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

A Group of historians has looked at Britain's relationship with Europe and suggests its relationship with the continent over the centuries needs to be understood to appreciate attitudes to the European Union today. If there is a referendum in two years how will it go? "I think we will vote to stay in because business will frankly terrify people in the same way they did in the Scottish referendum," historian Andrew Roberts says.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

The National Health Action Party (NHA) wants to raise income tax by 1p and is calling for a Tobin Tax. The party is fielding 13 candidates nationwide. It's leader Dr Clive Peedell says it is the only party that wants to increase spending on the NHS. He tells the Daily Politics there is definitive evidence that increased spending on healthcare is also good for the economy. "The £22bn funding cap is not sustainable in the long term," he adds. "Inevitably we are going to see co-payments and funding charges coming in [[if something is not done]."

tweets:, external EveningStandard/IpsosMORI poll LAB 34% CON 33% UKIP 13% LDEM 8% GRNS 6%

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Whoever ends up the largest party may end up having to do a deal with not one but two parties in order to form a coalition. "We haven't really played minority governments in this country before," says historian Andrew Roberts. "No laws may get passed, but the parties will get on with the business of governing" he says.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Mark Littlewood from the Institute of Economic Affairs says Nigel Farage's proposals would allow employers to discriminate on the grounds of nationality.

Sunder Katwala from British Future says Britain is a much less racist society compared to when he was born. He says he'd love to live in a colour-blind society - and his kids might be able to.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

"It doesn't look like anybody really knows how it [the general election] is going to go at all..... It is going to require some sort of collaboration [between the parties to form a government]"Andrew Whitehurst from the bet2015 site, external tells the Daily Politics. Harry Cole, founder of the website, who also works for the Guido Fawkes blog says the website is "following the money" of those placing bets on the outcome of the election. At present opinion polls suggest Labour will - narrowly - be the party with the largest seats. The betting however suggestions David Cameron will still be prime minister after the election.

In Scotland, STV has just announced it will host a live TV debate with leaders of the four main political parties north of the border. It will take place on 7 April - within the official campaign period. It will feature Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has responded to Nigel Farage's comments on racial discrimination.

He says: "Nigel Farage's wish to decriminalise discrimination by scrapping equality laws is dangerous crude dog whistle politics that strikes at the heart of British values of tolerance and respect.

"It also makes absolutely no sense. If he genuinely wants to protect jobs, then his party ought to abandon its position of attacking hard-won rights for workers.

"His assertion that racism is no longer a problem in the UK employment market is naive and conflicts with shocking figures from the House of Commons library showing the number of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds who have been jobless for more than a year has risen by a staggering 49 per cent since the Tory led government came to power."

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Hazel Blears denies claims the intelligence and security committee has been taken in by the glamour of the spy world. The committee has new powers over spy agencies, she says "We are not seduced by the glamour of 007", Ms Blears adds.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Hazel Blears tells Daily Politics there has been an "in-depth" inquiry into scrutiny, privacy and the intelligence agencies. She says the intelligence services can access a "tiny number" of internet cables, from which they can get a "tiny proportion" of the information in them. They then have a search engine that gets out the "fragments" of "highest value".

They have an audit trail - and some have been found to have used information inappropriately. That should be a criminal offence, Ms Blears says.

As technology develops, she adds, legal protections must too.

House of Commons
Parliament

Justine Greening has announced a new medal will be "struck" to recognise the efforts of British personnel fighting Ebola in West Africa. She says Britain "did not stand on the sidelines and our strength has saved thousand of lives"; and this response is "the very best in what the UK can do overseas", she adds.

BBC News Channel

Here's a bit more from Hazel Blears who was speaking on behalf of Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee. On the question of whether intelligence agencies can carry out a general trawl for information? She says the intelligence and security committee is "absolutely satisfied" we don't have "blanket surveillance" in the UK. What we have are important powers, covered by legal authorisation. But the system, she repeats, needs to be more transparent.