Leanne Wood: Plaid Cymru leader 'took drugs as student'

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has admitted she took drugs as a student.

Speaking to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire, Ms Wood also despaired of hot flushes caused by the menopause and spoke of sexism she had experienced.

An independent Wales was a long-term project for her and she would not be standing down after the general election whatever the result, she said.

The election was an "opportunity to have a strong voice for Wales at Westminster," she added.

Since the EU referendum and the decision to leave the EU our "voice has almost gone unheard, pretty much neglected" she told Victoria Derbyshire, while driven around central London in a white van - during which the pair sang along to Catatonia's Road Rage.

When asked if she had ever taken drugs, Ms Wood said she had: "Cannabis, a long time ago. But I was younger and a student - I tried a few."

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She also said she did not believe in God as no evidence had "come my way that would convince me", and said that gay sex was not a sin.

On the question of who does the "boy and girl jobs" at home (a reference to a comment made by Prime Minster Theresa May on the One Show) she said her partner did all the housework "so all the jobs are his really".

She also touched on her experiences of sexism saying there was a "wide range from the casual sexist comment through to misogynistic... abuse on Twitter".

On Theresa May, she said: "I get the feeling I don't know what she is, I get the feeling that what we see is a very carefully presented person, who is trying to appear in a certain way. But I don't get the sense that we know the person at all."

Responding to a question about her future should the party - which advocates an independent Wales and has three MPs - see its vote flatline as in 2015, she said she would remain leader because she had taken over the party five years previously on the basis it was a long-term project she had to "see out".

"It will take quite a long time I think to get Wales into the position whereby we can talk about having a referendum," she said.

She said Plaid and Scotland's SNP were at different stages on their "journey to self-determination".

Ms Wood also said she wouldn't rule out going into coalition with Labour and taking seats in a Jeremy Corbyn cabinet "because what I want to do is stop the Tories wreaking havoc on Wales".

However, she added, she believed the outcome of the election would be a Tory landslide in England.