CARMARTHEN East and Dinefwr MP Adam Price has sensationally announced he is standing down at the next General Election.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian this afternoon, the 39-year-old Plaid Cymru MP said he felt it was time for a change.

The General Election is expected to take place next May, by which time Ammanford-born Mr Price will have served nine years at Westminster.

"While it has been a great honour and privilege to represent this constituency I now feel that after two terms the time is ripe for a change," he said.

"I feel I've done all I wanted to do - I was never a career politician and couldn't ever see myself sitting on those green benches for another 25-30 years. My heart is here in Wales."

Mr Price, who confirmed it was his intention to run for a seat at the Welsh Assembly in 2011, also revealed that having won a Fulbright Award it was his intention to spend a year studying public policy and economic development at a prestigious American institution.

But the man who famously tried to impeach the-then Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq War said he would not miss the House of Commons at all.

"If I had my way I'd shut it down tomorrow and turn it into a museum of British democracy because that is what it is," he said.

"When I hand my pass back in I'll miss representing the people of Carmarthen East and Dinefwr but I will not miss the House of Commons at all."

Plaid are expected to begin the process of choosing a candidate to fight the seat next month.