Welsh first minister Vaughan Gething loses confidence vote
The Welsh first minister, Vaughan Gething, has lost a no-confidence vote less than 12 weeks after taking office, following a series of scandals that have called into question his judgment and transparency.
Gething’s defeat is a significant blow to his authority and a growing problem for the UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who so far has repeatedly backed the Labour first minister.
The no-confidence motion was tabled by the Tories and backed by Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats but it has become clear that Gething has also lost the confidence of some in his own party.
Though the vote is non-binding and will not automatically force him to resign, there is no doubt his leadership has been damaged and pressure on him to step down is bound to grow.
Gething’s tenure has been overshadowed by £200,000 in donations for his leadership campaign that he took from a company whose owner, David Neal, was convicted of dumping waste on the Gwent Levels in south Wales.
Last month the pressure increased with the emergence of iMessages with fellow Labour members from the Covid crisis, when Gething was the Welsh health minister, in which he said he was going to delete a thread, which led to suspicions of decisions being covered up.
It got worse when Gething sacked Hannah Blythyn, his minister for social partnership, suggesting she had leaked the messages, which she denied. Within hours, Plaid Cymru had ended its cooperation agreement with the Welsh government, making it trickier for the government to operate as it does not have an overall Senedd majority.
Earlier this week Gething had said he was confident he would win the vote, but on Wednesday morning Labour said two of its Senedd members were unwell, putting the vote on a knife-edge. Both the Tories and Plaid had refused to “pair”, the informal arrangement under which a member will agree not to vote when a political opponent is ill to maintain the balance of votes.
Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said the Welsh people and Welsh Labour had lost confidence in Gething. “The only person left supporting Vaughan Gething is Keir Starmer,” he said.
The Plaid Cymru leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said: “In accepting a £200k donation from a convicted polluter, the first minister has undermined his own office and the confidence of the people of Wales in his ability to govern.”
During an emotional and often heated debate in the Senedd, Gething appeared to shed tears and was comforted by a colleague.
Davies said the issue was about “judgment, transparency and honesty”. He said: “Most reasonable people would question what was being secured by that £200,000 donation to the leadership campaign.”
Gething told the Senedd: “I have dedicated my adult life to public service and to Wales. I have never ever made a decision in more than a decade as a minister for personal or financial gain.”
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The first minister said if Davies was really interested in how government was conducted, he would have raised questions about Partygate.
He continued: “I also want to recognise that like me, so many people of colour have been traduced and vilified merely for raising concerns about how some of these debates have been handled. Our lived experience should matter and be respected. We still have a very long way to go.”
Hefin David, another Vaughan Gething ally, said: “I have the right to ask if his ethnicity has an influence on the motives of some of those outside this chamber who seek to break him on the wheel.”
Joyce Watson, a Labour member, expressed anger that the debate had taken place on the anniversary of the D-day landings, preventing Gething representing Wales in Portsmouth. She told Gething’s opponents: “You could have picked any other day. You chose this day. I will never forgive you. You want to hang your head in shame.”