Vaughan Gething to become Welsh first minister after Labour leadership win

Vaughan Gething has been elected as the head of Welsh Labour and will become the first black leader of a European country when he is confirmed as first minister next week.

Gething, who has worked as the health and the economy minister in the Labour-led government, succeeds Mark Drakeford after beating the education minister, Jeremy Miles.

He promised to improve the Welsh NHS, put green jobs at the forefront of the country’s economic future, build more homes and reliable transport systems, drive up education standards and guide Wales to a more prominent position on the world stage.

But Gething, who turned 50 on Friday, has a challenging in-tray.

He will have to unite Welsh Labour after a divisive leadership campaign and prepare to lead the party into a general election. He must steer the country through the cost of living crisis and raise standards in health and education at a time of deep budget cuts.

There are also other tricky issues that Drakeford leaves behind, such as the country’s hugely controversial 20mph speed limit and environmental policy reforms that have led to farmers’ demonstrations on the steps of the Senedd.

Gething’s run for leader was hit by revelations that he took £200,000 for his leadership campaign from a company run by a man convicted of environmental offences. Eyebrows were also raised when it emerged that Miles, his only rival, was not eligible for support from Unite because he had not been a lay union official. Gething received the backing, which Miles’s supporters saw as a “stitch-up”. He will have to build bridges with Miles’s backers in the Senedd as a result.