The First Minister of Wales has lost a confidence vote in his leadership after just 77 days in the job – as he wiped away tears in a debate in the Senedd.
Labour’s Vaughan Gething has faced questions over a £200,000 donation to his leadership campaign, while a row over a leaked message led to him sacking one of his ministers. A deal with Welsh political party Plaid Cymru collapsed leading to the Welsh Tories submitting no confidence in the First Minister.
Members of the Senedd (MS) voted 29 in favour, 27 against the motion of no confidence in Mr Gething, a majority of two. Despite Labour holding the balance of power in the Senedd, he was expected to lose the vote as two Labour members are off sick. Mr Gething became the first Black leader of any European country when he succeeded Mark Drakeford as First Minister in March. Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru of “game playing” ahead of the vote.
Mr Gething earlier told the Senedd it “hurts deeply” when his intentions are questioned and insisted he has never made a decision as a minister for personal or financial gain. He was visibly emotional and could be seen wiping tears from his eyes as the motion was debated. The motion is non-binding and will not force Mr Gething to stand aside from his role as First Minister.
Asked if Mr Gething should resign if he loses the vote, the Labour leader said: “I think it’s really important to see this for what it is, it’s game playing by the Conservatives, Plaid playing along as well. What Vaughan Gething wants to do is to deliver for the people of Wales, and I think people in Wales want him to deliver for them so that’s where his priority is and that’s where my priority is.”
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Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said: “His position is now untenable and he must resign immediately.”
During his bid to be Welsh Labour leader, Mr Gething took a £200,000 donation, which was the largest individual donation in Welsh government history. But he has been under pressure over the money from the Dauson Environmental Group, which is owned by David Neal, who has twice been convicted of environmental offences.
Concerns about a possible conflict of interest with the money coming from a company which was loaned £400,000 by the Welsh government-owned Development Bank of Wales (DBW) then arose. The loan from the DBW was given to Neal Soil Suppliers – a subsidiary of Dauson – in 2023 to help purchase a solar farm, at a time when Mr Gething was economy minister.
Mr Gething has always insisted that he cannot take any decision relating to Dauson – which is based in his constituency – and the DBW is entirely independent of ministers. He has also stressed that no rules were broken when he took the money.
But Plaid Cymru said the donation was one of the reasons it has ended its co-operation agreement in the Senedd with the Welsh Labour administration. Mr Gething’s dismissal of the minister for social partnership, Hannah Blythyn, following the leak of a phone message to the media was also highlighted as a reason to end the agreement with Labour. The vote also followed a leaked text that showed him saying he was “deleting the messages in this group”, despite having told the Covid inquiry that lost WhatsApps were not deleted by him.
Following the collapse of the deal between Plaid and Labour, the Welsh Conservatives submitted a motion of no confidence in the First Minister. Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth accused Mr Gething of having “a bunker mentality” and urged members to be “different to Westminster”.
He told the Senedd: “Today is a solemn day here in the Senedd in many, many ways, this isn’t tribal party politics, this is about the good name of government and more importantly the person at the top of that government, that rightly is expected to set the tone for that government. We must be different to Westminster not only in words but in deed too.”
Labour MS Hefin David questioned whether Mr Gething’s ethnicity has influenced the motives of those criticising him. He said: “I, as an observer, have the right to ask if his ethnicity has an influence on the motives of some of those outside of this Chamber who seek to break him on the wheel.
“We cannot ignore that question, and we cannot dismiss the lived experience of BAME people who feel it to be the case. There’s a strength of feeling in this Senedd now that I’ve rarely seen before, such is the ferocity of the pack in pursuit, that I think we’re losing all reason, and if reason is lost, so will be the Government, and possibly the Senedd itself.”