VETERAN Newport West MP Paul Flynn has slammed Plaid Cymru for claiming Labour MPs were not present for a vital devolution debate.

Following the second day of the committee stage of the Wales Bill on Monday, July 11, leader of Plaid’s Westminster group Hywel Williams posted an image on Twitter which claimed to show only two Welsh Labour MPs taking part in the debate.

Although the image was retweeted 137 times, Parliamentary records show the majority of Welsh Labour MPs were present for the debate, but the picture was taken when many of them had stepped out for various reasons.

Writing on his blog, MP Paul Flynn said Plaid’s claims were “wholly misleading”.

“Plaid has now fictionalised their narrative of the bill with an account that casts their MPs in heroic roles, as the sole defenders of the nation,” he said.

Saying he and his Labour colleagues had “played their full roles” in the debate, Mr Flynn continued: “Some of Plaid’s more gullible supporters swallowed the fiction and who have been indignantly twittering.

“Swiftly it’s descended into an ignorance-rich sense-free zone.

“Trying to explain that absence from the Chamber for the second on the video grab did not mean absence from the debate and certainly not absence from the votes does not cut through to some of the tweeters hell-bent on creating their own self-serving fantasy.”

But Plaid’s Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards reiterated claims Welsh Labour MPs were not properly representing their constituents.

“People won’t fall for this sanctimonious catalogue of excuses which is nothing more than a smokescreen for Labour’s failure to stand up for the Welsh national interest,” he said.

“The truth is that time and time again Labour MPs have chosen to abstain on crucial votes that would have secured more powers for Wales over energy, natural resources, taxation and more.”