BLAENAU GWENT AM Trish Law has announced she will not seek re-election in May.

The only independent Assembly Member, Mrs Law said the break over the summer has given her the opportunity "to think long and hard" about her future.

She said, "My family often has to play second fiddle to the job which I will have done to the best of my ability for five years come next May.

"To stand again would mean making a commitment to serve as an AM for another four and a half years – until May 2015, and I just felt that it was too big a commitment to make.

"Most people have no idea of the many engagements I have in Cardiff Bay and in the constituency which have usually had to take priority over family commitments. First and foremost I am a mother and grandmother."

Mrs Law, a member of Peoples Voice, was first elected in Blaenau Gwent in June 2006 after the death of her husband, Peter. Mr Law's former agent, Dai Davies won the parliamentary seat.

In 2007 she was re-elected with a 5,357 majority but in May's election she said People's Voice "took a blow" when MP Dai Davies lost his seat to Labour's Nick Smith.

However, Mrs Law said she still believes she would win if she were to stand again.

Mrs Law become an AM after vowing to continue her late husband's good work and the fight the "arrogance" of the Labour Party.

She said, "I sincerely hope the Labour Party generally has learned a hard lesson over the past six or seven years - that it must never again treat the good people of Blaenau Gwent with the contempt it showed by imposing a one-gender shortlist for the 2005 parliamentary election.

"Having achieved what I know Peter would have wanted me to achieve and having given my all to the constituency and its people I care so much about for the past few years I have decided to stand down in May and put my family first."

"As long as I remain as an Assembly Member I will continue to do my best for the good constituents of Blaenau Gwent. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have represented them."

Paying tribute to the opponents she has met over the four years, Mrs Law said, "I am grateful to the political opponents who have fought me at the polls on two occasions, not least former Labour candidates John Hopkins and Keren Bender. They waged clean and honourable campaigns."

But of Alun Davies, Labour AM for Mid and West Wales, who she was to face in the election, she said, "The only way he knows how to fight is dirty, and I dare say he will be rubbing his hands with glee at my announcement."