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Controversial AM Neil McEvoy has applied to re-join Plaid Cymru, claiming that if he’s allowed back he could defeat Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford at the next National Assembly election in 2021.

More than a year has passed since the South Wales Central AM was expelled from the party, meaning he can now seek to return.

In March 2018, Mr McEvoy was expelled from Plaid for 18 months after a party panel decided he had brought the party into disrepute.

Later the AM’s period of expulsion from Plaid was reduced to one year.

He has since been sitting as an Independent AM.

Before he was expelled from the party, Mr McEvoy had been “permanently excluded” from Plaid’s Assembly group, with its members saying there had been an irretrievable breakdown in trust.

In his letter calling for re-admission to Plaid, Mr McEvoy states: “It has been a very productive 12 months for me, where I have continued to develop high-profile campaigns, which have been adopted by the party, and I’ve continued to raise the profile of the party.

“Perhaps most significantly, I played a leading role in the Ely [council] by-election in Cardiff, planning and directing the successful campaign. This saw Plaid win its first seat in Ely, in the heart of the Labour First Minister’s Cardiff West constituency and one of their historically safest council seats in Wales.

“‘But most importantly of all, it is clear now that Plaid Cymru has a real chance to be the largest party after the next Assembly election.

"Polls are consistently projecting that we will win in Cardiff West. That would mean another seat towards making Adam Price First Minister. And it would also be an enormous blow to Labour to lose their First Minister at the next election.

“The truth is, there are no other Plaid candidates who can achieve victory in Cardiff West. I already have the profile, the team and the financial backing to deliver the result. This is an opportunity that the party simply cannot allow to pass by.”

In the last Assembly election in 2016, Mr McEvoy won 31.9% of the vote - 10,205 votes - just 1,176 votes behind Mark Drakeford who took 35.6% of the vote.

Since then, Plaid has defeated Labour in a by-election in the Cardiff council ward of Ely .

The membership, discipline and standards committee of Plaid Cymru must now decide whether or not to readmit Mr McEvoy.