UKIP Wales leader says election can put party policies on the table

If you saw last week's programme, you'll know that the idea behind Adrian's Election Bites is simple: to get to know the people who want our votes on May 5th as people as well as politicians.

Each week, one of the leaders makes dinner with me as their sous chef. While we're chopping, grating, washing and stirring, I ask them about their backgrounds and the kind of people they are. It's quite revealing.

Then, over dinner, I quiz them about what they're promising voters in this election, leaving the most difficult questions until their mouths are full!

As Political Editor for ITV Cymru Wales, I think I know these leaders quite well but I've seen a whole new side to them as a result of spending a few hours in the kitchen with them, outside (mostly) their comfort zones and mine, away from the Assembly chamber and the campaign trail.

This week's chef is someone who divides opinion more than most as the leader of the party which divides opinion more than most.

UKIP has made significant electoral gains in recent years, coming second and almost beating Labour in the European Parliamentary election in Wales, picking up votes from all parties in last year's UK election and maintaining opinion poll support that could see them win as many as eight or nine seats in the Senedd chamber after May.

All that means the other parties have realised that UKIP has to be taken seriously as a political force in Wales.

However, its rise has been accompanied by controversy: internal arguments over the selection of candidates followed by the resignation of some long-standing Welsh activists and criticism of the leadership.

Nathan Gill is the party's leader and MEP for Wales. Over the course of a couple of hours in the kitchen of his family's B & B, we make lasagne and I try to find out more about him.

Faith is important to him - he's a member of the Mormon church - as is his family although he doesn't get to see them much other than via Skype.

He doesn't see himself as a career politician and tells me that, in fact he's increasingly suspicious of politicians, despite being one himself.

He's frank about some of UKIP's problems in Wales, putting them down to 'teething trouble' and takes on some of the most persistent criticisms that the party faces.

We also talk about the kinds of plans and promises that UKIP will be presenting to voters in the hope of winning support in May.

Join us as we chew over food and politics in Adrian's Election Bites, tonight at 8pm on ITV Cymru Wales.