Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Welsh first minister Vaughan Gething looks set to lose a vote of no confidence just 77 days into his leadership after two of his Labour colleagues in the Welsh Senedd have called in sick.
The vote was called by the opposition Conservative party in the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, after a dispute over donations received by Gething when he was running for leadership at the end of last year.
However, Vikki Howells, chair of the Labour group of Members of the Senedd (MSs) said that Gething would not stand down if he lost the “gimmick” vote on Wednesday evening, which is not a formal vote of no confidence.
While the vote is not binding, losing it would be a significant blow to the Welsh first minister’s authority.
“This is not a binding vote. The binding votes are the votes that are cast at the ballot box in a Senedd election,” said Howells, speaking to the BBC. “He wouldn’t have to resign because he has just won a democratic vote to be leader of Welsh Labour.”
Gething, who was previously economy minister, received £200,000 for his campaign to become leader of the Welsh Labour party between December 2023 and January 2024 from recycling firm Dauson Environmental Group.
The company’s owner, David Neal, received a suspended prison sentence in 2013 over the illegal dumping of waste.
Neal Soil Suppliers, a subsidiary of Dauson, had received a £400,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales in February 2023 for the purchase of a solar farm.
The economy minister is responsible for DBW, which is wholly owned by the Welsh government but run independently. Gething has repeatedly said he had never taken any decisions in relation to Dauson.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies said: “One there’s a question of judgment, two there’s a question around transparency and three there’s an issue around honesty.”
Gething, who became first minister in March, survived a similar vote at the start of May.
But with Labour holding 30 out of the 60 seats in the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, and with every other party set to vote against him, Gething needs every Labour member to vote for him on Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday morning, Howells told the BBC that two of her colleagues were unwell. The pair are understood to be Hannah Blythyn and Lee Waters, who are both former Labour ministers in the Welsh government.
Waters had criticised Gething in last month’s debate, saying the donations should be returned because they were a “mistake”.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, said there were some Labour members who were “wrestling with their conscience” over the issue.
“By denying the legitimacy of a vote of no confidence in the first minister, Labour are treating the Senedd with contempt,” he said.
“In accepting a £200,000 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,” he said.
He added: “At a time when trust in politics is low, any perception of outside influence in the Labour Welsh government’s decision-making is eroding public confidence.”
Gething has been contacted for comment.
Credit: Source link
