Llew Smith: Defends allegations

Smith explaining his position on BBC's Newsnight

Expulsion MP Says PM is Wrong

"What the Prime Minister said, I am sad to say, is wrong," insisted Llew Smith, the MP for Blaenau Gwent.

"Let me repeat, I had a meeting with Ron Davies," he said. "He informed me that if I was going to campaign against a Welsh assembly I would be kicked out of the Parliamentary Labour Party, and any member who followed me down that route would be expelled from the party"

During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Blair told MPs he was satisfied that "no threats" had been made and that the allegations by Mr Smith were not true.

"There is no truth in these allegations," Mr Blair stressed. But he added that he had ordered an investigation into the claims.

Mr Blair announced the inquiry in response to a question in the Commons by the new Tory Leader William Hague.

Smith: Long-time opponent of Welsh devolution

The row began on Tuesday, when Labour backbencher Mr Smith said that Welsh Secretary Ron Davies had threatened him with expulsion from the party if he opposed Labour's devolution plans and that an adviser of Mr Davies had told local councillors their relationship with the Welsh Office would be jeopardised unless he backed the plans.

Mr Hague, rising to Tory cheers, asked "When Mr Smith says he was threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party if he campaigned against a Welsh Assembly in the forthcoming referendum and Mr Davies denies it, which one of them is telling the truth?"

Mr Blair insisted "There is no truth in these allegations. People are perfectly entitled to speak their mind." He added that "no such threat was made".

But Mr Hague, in his first question time as Opposition Leader, called for "a cast iron guarantee" that Mr Blair would tell the Commons of the results of the investigation and demanded to know what the Prime Minister was doing "to stop the arrogant behaviour of your Government ... and to ensure there is honest and open debate".

Pressed by SNP Leader Alex Salmond on reports that the Government was recasting its taxation policy for a Scottish parliament, the Prime Minister said: "There is absolutely no confusion about the devolution plans and there is huge support in Scotland, as elsewhere ..."