Plaid Cymru should come clean on its plans to "take Wales out of the UK", Peter Hain has said.

As campaigning for May's assembly elections continues, the Welsh secretary urged nationalists to explain their call for self-government.

Brandishing a Plaid leaflet saying that "we need much more" than a Scottish parliament, Hain urged voters not to be fooled by Labour's opponents.

"The nationalists' latest attempt to hide their true aim of separation is to claim that an assembly with Scottish-style powers is all they want," he said.

"But nobody should be fooled that the Welsh nationalists would stop at a parliament for Wales. This is regarded by Plaid Cymru as nothing more than a means to an end, with that end being Wales withdrawing from the UK ? a costly and expensive divorce that the people of Wales don't want."

Speaking during a visit to Llanelli, the Cabinet minister sought to highlight Plaid Cymru's policies by drawing comparisons with the planned "roadmap" for separate Palestinian and Israeli states.

"Labour is clear about this - our road map leads to a strong Wales as part of a strong UK," he said.

"But where does the Plaid Cymru road map for Wales go? Does it end up with Wales separated from the rest of the UK or not?"