Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood yesterday demanded an opt-out for Wales from "welfare and warfare" policies imposed on the country by Westminster.

Ms Wood laid out her vision for a "socially, politically and economically" rebalanced Britain at her party's spring conference.

She said a council of ministers from devolved governments should make decisions that affect Britain as a whole.

Referring to Tory calls for opt-outs from the European Union, she said the Welsh government should be able to veto "unjust and unacceptable UK policy decisions that affect us.

"Real empowerment would mean a Welsh opt-out and a Welsh say on big decisions like welfare and warfare," she told the hundreds of massed Plaid members.

"No more bedroom taxes forced on Wales. No more young Welshmen and women being dragged into illegal wars against the expressed will of the people of Wales and their government."

Ms Wood traced her political roots, starting as the daughter of a Rhondda bus driver with parents who didn't pass the 11-plus tests to becoming Plaid leader.

She reaffirmed pledges made at the party's conference last year to bring energy and rail back under public ownership in Wales and insisted that Trident should not be moved to Welsh shores.

Ms Wood also made a bold attack on "grotesque" attempts by politicians and media to use the centenary of the outbreak of World War I to "glorify their worldview."

But Ms Wood used her headline announcement to reach out to business leaders.

She called for a new "private sector-led" body be created to use EU cash, public funds and private capital for "the rebuilding of Wales."

She said: "Putting business in a new position of leadership and overcoming Wales's low-wage economy form the central plank of Plaid Cymru's new business deal."

But she stressed that "a healthy business environment goes hand in hand - not in contradiction - with fair conditions for workers."

The policy announcement was part of a sustained attack on the Welsh Labour government's "poverty of aspiration."

Ms Wood also warned that "a vote for Ukip is a vote against Wales" ahead of May's European elections.