MAGGIE Jones says she is portrayed wrongly by her opponents and worked as a trade union official for 25 years.

In her first press conference, Mrs Jones said: "I am steeped in the lifeblood of this party and am instinctively a grassroots campaigner. That's why I love what I'm doing now, knocking on doors, meeting people, it's my natural habitat.

"This nonsense that I'm a Blairite who has been parachuted in from London annoys me, it's an outrageous myth peddled by my opponents. "I am from Cardiff, my late father was a former miner from Ynysddu and I worked for 25 years in the trade union movement so I relish a battle.

"I'm sorry Peter Law has decided to leave the party, it was his choosing and not what we wanted.

"I was democratically elected from five candidates through a process that has been party policy for 10 years. As I'm talking to more people they tell me they are reassured about voting Labour.

"We're running a very positive campaign based on bringing highly-paid quality jobs and better education and training to the area and people are reacting well - in fact many are telling me it is a breath of fresh air that a woman is having a go for a change."