Election 2015: 'Despicable to equate Plaid with racism'

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has claimed opponents are trying to smear one of the party's general election candidates over an article in which he allegedly compared some English incomers to rural Wales to Nazis.

Mike Parker, who is contesting Ceredigion, wrote in 2001 that parts of Wales were inhabited by "gun-toting final solution crackpots".

He said he would not use such phrases now, as he was "hopefully wiser" but there was nothing to apologise for.

Ms Wood told BBC Radio Wales she thought the words "final solution" were "problematic", but she had no plans to drop him as a candidate.

The candidates so far declared to be standing in Ceredigion are: Henrietta Hensher (Conservative), Jack Huggins (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition), Gethin James (UKIP), Mike Parker (Plaid Cymru), Huw Thomas (Labour), Daniel Thompson (Green Party), and Mark Williams (Liberal Democrats).