Ann Clwyd MP to step down

Long-serving Labour MP Ann Clwyd has announced that she’ll be stepping down from her seat in Cynon Valley in 2015. Clywd, 76, who was elected as an MP 30 years ago this year in a by-election, previously served as an MEP.

She announced her intention to step down at a meeting of her local party this weekend, after informing Ed Miliband of her decision last week. But the campaigning MP said that this wouldn’t be her swansong – just a “pause for breath”.

Clwyd has recently been leading a government inquiry into how the NHS deals with complaints following the poor care her husband Owen Roberts received prior to his death. In the statement announcing her retirement from Parliament, she said:

“I still have a lot of energy left to fight for a better health service for the people of Wales over the next year and to ensure that the system improves throughout the UK”

“I hope my late husband Owen Roberts can hear me – I know he would be backing me all the way, as he always did.”

Cynon Valley is a Labour stronghold, with a current Labour majority of 9617.