NEWPORT MP Alan Howarth is to stand down at the next general election. The Newport East MP exclusively revealed his decision to the Argus just hours after telling members of his Consituency Labour Party.

Mr Howarth, 60, said he had been "pondering" the matter over the late summer and autumn and had come to his decision last week.

He said: "It is the right thing to do. It is just one of those things that I feel in my bones after 22 years in the House of Commons representing Stratford-Upon-Avon and Newport East, and just after my 60th birthday.

"We may have an election next summer and I asked myself if wanted to enter Parliament for another four or five years after that. I had my doubts and I needed to examine them and be honest with myself. If I felt like that, I thought it was perhaps better to go now.

"I have been fantastically privileged to be the MP for Newport East. "But I always think it is better to go early rather than late, and have people think 'for goodness sake, when is he going to go?'.

"It is time to draw stumps."

Mr Howarth said that travelling between Newport and Westminster and to other destinations for his political work had also "taken its toll", and that he is looking forward to spending more time at his home in Maindee.

He added: "Some people speculate wildly on these occasions, so I have to stress that I have not been offered another job, my health is good and there is no hidden agenda."

Mr Howarth, who has four grown-up children who he says are looking forward to seeing more of their father, said he made his announcement to CLP members on Thursday night, to enable the party to select a candidate and allow as long a period as possible for that person to bed in before the election is called.

He said he was touched by the reaction of his "comrades".

In a letter to each Labour Party member in Newport East, he writes: "I remember vividly and with deep gratitude the day the Newport East Labour Party chose me as candidate in 1997.

"I have been proud and happy since then to be MP for Newport East, working with the party and Labour's other elected representatives, and I have greatly valued the kindness and friendship I have received from so many people in the constituency."

Mr Howarth became the MP for Newport East in 1997 after leaving the Conservatives in 1995 to join New Labour, serving as an employment minister, minister for the disabled and minister for the arts before returning to the backbenches.

He will continue to be a member of the Newport East CLP after he stands down and Mr Howarth stressed that until then he wil continue his work as a local MP as normal.

"You're not rid of me yet!" he said.