The Plaid Cymru group in Ron Davies's constituency has said he "would be a welcome addition to the family" as long as his reasons for leaving Labour were genuine.

Plaid Cymru's Caerphilly Council Group spokesman Darren Jones said Mr Davies would have to satisfy Plaid members that he believed in the party's policies.

"If Ron Davies was coming to us because he'd burnt his bridges in the Labour Party he wouldn't be welcome," said Mr Jones.

"We would only consider accepting him because his principles had changed towards devolution.

Reservations

"There would be doubts from the party because they don't know him as a person.

"He would have to satisfy us that his reasons for coming across were genuine.

"There would be reservations, but that could be alleviated by a question and answer session."

Mr Jones said Mr Davies had displayed "a lot of integrity" by writing the letter claiming Labour's handling of Objective One was "inept".

"He put the truth in a letter getting the Labour Party to forget about politics and work with Plaid Cymru."

Change of thinking

And the Plaid spokesman said the party would not be put off by the former Welsh Secretary's moments of madness.

"It doesn't make any difference to us, Ron has done his time," said Mr Jones.

"His private life is none of our business."

Mr Jones added that he thought Mr Davies was coming round to Plaid's policies.

"I think Ron is changing his thinking.

"The letter is the most high profile example recently.

"He doesn't trust Alun Michael or Tony Blair to deliver Objective One.

"He must be questioning his basic beliefs in the Labour Party."