Plaid’s Wood ‘actively considering’ standing as MP

PLAID Cymru leader Leanne Wood says she is actively considering standing as a General Election candidate in the Rhondda, after apparently ruling it out earlier.

In a round of interviews she told BBC Wales she had discarded the idea and said on the Andrew Marr show she did not want to give up leadership of her party – which she would have to do if she stood as an MP.

Later, she told BBC One’s Sunday Politics she was “actively considering” standing because Wales needs a strong voice in Westminster.

“We need a strong team in Westminster. That’s why I am actively considering it. But also, we need a strong team in Cardiff Bay,” she told the programme during a debate of the four party leaders in Wales.

She said: “I think we are in for a very interesting election in Wales, not least in the south Wales Valleys where people are desperate for change.”

The Rhondda AM had told Radio Wales: “On balance, I am coming down against [standing].”

In a second interview on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One she said she did not want to give up leadership of her party for a Westminster seat and told him she believed her party has a good chance of ousting Labour’s Chris Bryant with another candidate.

“I have been seriously considering this. There’s a lot to weigh up,” she said.

“Our party rules dictate if I were to win a Westminster seat – which is doa- ble – you have to give up leadership of the party, which I don’t really want to do.

“I think we can win the Rhondda with a number of different candidates