The draft manifesto is at an early stage

The message containing its draft manifesto was sent by mistake to a member of the House of Lords belonging to another party.

It was accompanied by pages of criticism from a senior Plaid member.

Plaid is looking forward after a disappointing performance in last year's Welsh assembly elections.

The comments made on the manifesto came from party adviser Eurfyl ap Gwilym.

Simon Thomas defended the lack of costings in the draft

He was one of several people invited to give their views on the draft to party policy director Simon Thomas MP.

His remarks, which were not meant for public consumption, include calling the manifesto "dispiriting" and "backward looking".

The draft manifesto has been obtained by BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye programme.

Other comments include: "This current manifesto does not appear to have been costed"; "This would probably be illegal"; "This is resonant of George Bush at his worst" and "Why are we being so nice to them (Labour) - this is meant to be an election manifesto."

Amongst the proposals revealed in the draft are:

• A new 50% tax rate for people earning over �50,000 a year.
• The scrapping of council tax in favour of a local income tax.
• A review of the Barnett formula which decides the amount of money Wales gets from the UK government.
• More money for education and health
• Giving the assembly ownership of the rail system.
• Extra powers for the assembly in the short term and in the longer term a referendum on independence.
• An across-the-board increase in pensions for the over 75s.
• Fully funding students in higher education.

Mr Thomas, who represents Ceredigion, admitted the manifesto should not have been released at this stage, but said it was a very early draft.

"We do send it out to people like Eurfyl who can comment on certain parts from their experience," he said.

"We will take all his views into account, alongside the views of other people who have made other comments."

This is as bad as it gets if your manifesto leaks out Tory AM David Melding

However, he defended the manifesto against criticisms that it had not been costed, saying it was difficult to produce figures until the election date had been set.

"When we know when the election will be, that's when we can put a bit more work into the budget side of it," he said.

"When we know the economic situation, we can bring forward a more costed manifesto."

He said the manifesto had already been redrafted and will go through further strengthening before being presented to the party for approval next month

Conservative AM David Melding described the leak as "appalling news for Plaid Cymru".

"This is as bad as it gets if your manifesto leaks out," he said.

"It is acutely embarrassing and really does throw you offline in your preparations for the election ahead."