TWO of Dwyfor Meirionnydd’s political heavyweights have clashed with the constituency’s MP accusing its AM of not having “an ounce of respect” for voters.

Speaking on the S4C panel discussion programme Pawb a’i Farn on Thursday evening, broadcast from Penrhyndeudraeth, MP Liz Saville Roberts asked AM Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas why he did not step down after “shattering” his promises to the electorate by leaving Plaid Cymru.

Ex-party leader Lord Elis-Thomas said he has no intention of standing down and calling a by-election despite leaving the party and taking a job in the Labour-led Welsh Government.

He said his role as culture minister, which he took on in November 2017, was “the greatest honour of my life”.

Re-elected as Plaid AM for Dwyfor Meirionnydd in May 2016, he left the party five months later after a series of rows with Plaid leader Leanne Wood.

Now, Plaid MP Liz Saville Roberts has challenged him to call a by-election.

Mrs Saville Roberts said: “If I can speak plainly - if Dafydd Elis-Thomas had an ounce of respect for his constituents and for the people who have supported him for decades, he would have stepped down” and “ask for a new mandate from the voters by triggering a by-election”.

Lord Elis-Thomas said: “I am not a turncoat. I remain a cultured nationalist.

“The argument I had was with the leadership and strategy of the Plaid Cymru group in the assembly, and the refusal to co-operate to create a stable government for Wales.”

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