Llew Smith drops complaint

A Welsh Labour MP who claimed a minister threatened him with expulsion if he campaigned against his party on devolution said yesterday that he would not take the matter any further. Llew Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent, had said the Secretary of state for Wales, Ron Davies, told him he could be disciplined if he spoke out publicly against plans for a Welsh assembly.

Although Mr Davies had denied the claim and said that no MP would be disciplined for expressing a view, Mr Smith had said last week that he was considering taking his complaint to the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee.