Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood 'not convinced' by UK Government's Russia action

Leanne Wood says she's not convinced the UK is taking the right approach

Plaid Cymru's leader says she's 'not convinced' by Theresa May's tough approach to Russia in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning.

Leanne Wood says she 'can't take the Prime Minister's word' that Russia was behind the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on 4th March.

The UK has expelled 23 Russian diplomats in response to the situation. In return, Russia has expelled the same number of British diplomats.Leaders of the 28 European Union states have backed the Prime Minister's actions, saying 'it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.'

Leanne Wood being interviewed for this week's Sharp End programme

I've been speaking to Leanne Wood at her party's conference in Llangollen and I'd wanted to get her view on the Russia situation because she'd not alluded to it in her speech but had mentioned one or two international issues.

She said 'I'm not convinced at all that the Prime Minister is in the right direction on this.' She agreed that Russia 'may well be' be behind the Salisbury attack, but she said 'there's no evidence yet.'

When I pushed her on it she said 'I don't trust the Tories on anything, so I'm afraid I can't take the Prime Minister's word on this.'

You can see a clip of the interview below and you'll be able to see the full interview in Sharp End, Monday night at 1040pm on ITV Cymru Wales.

UPDATE 1400

There's been a strong reaction to this on both sides of the debate. Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies called it 'beyond childish' and accused the Plaid Cymru leader of acting as 'an apologist for the Kremlin.'

He was supported by the Conservative MP Simon Hart who tweeted:

However Leanne Wood has also received support for her position. One tweeter said the Tory leader's criticism was the 'kind of rant [which] doesn't contribute much to anything' while a Labour councillor asked 'How is preferring to wait for evidence being an apologist?'

UPDATE 2010

There's been further reaction throughout the day, including another response from the Conservative MP Simon Hart who criticised Leanne Wood's approach as 'beyond puerile' and 'student politics.'

However there has also been strong support for her scepticism and you can see a couple of examples of that support below.