After just four months, Vaughan Gething has started the process of stepping down as Prif Weinidog, or First Minister, of Wales, after four ministers quit his government, and another was sacked.
His resignation came after he had faced continuing questions about accepting £200,000 in donations from a firm owned by a man convicted of environmental crimes – something which emerged shortly before he won the Welsh Labour leadership race. Gething insisted that no rules had been broken, and, after becoming First Minister, was quick to commission a review into campaign donations more generally. Jeremy Miles, his leadership opponent, was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy, and Welsh Language, and attention quickly turned to addressing some of the key issues facing the Welsh Government: reviewing 20mph implementation; and delaying the implementation of the Sustainable Farming Scheme.
But in May, Hannah Blythyn MS was sacked from her position as Minister for Social Partnerships and Tourism. Gething cited the leaking of a Covid-era group chat to the press as being the reason for this decision. The screenshot from the chat contained a text from Vaughan Gething (who was Health Minister at the time) requesting that text messages be deleted in case they were subject to Freedom of Information Requests. Blythyn denied leaking the messages.
Meanwhile, and just as the General Election campaign began in earnest, a Vote of No Confidence in the First Minister was tabled by the Conservative Party. Gething lost the vote, with two key Labour members (including Hannah Blythyn) absent from the chamber.
Blythyn returned to the Senedd floor last week and spoke openly about the negative impact that the dismissal had had on her mental health. Further pressure, however, mounted on the First Minister, with increased levels in press and opposition scrutiny. As his resignation was made public, Gething also published a statement and screenshot evidence to support his decision to sack Blythyn.
On the morning of Tuesday 16th of July, four senior Cabinet members, including Gething’s leadership opponent and then Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jeremy Miles, resigned from the government. In his resignation letter, Miles cited Gething’s ‘loss of confidence vote’ as being ‘incredibly painful’ and asserted that repairing such damage would not be possible under Gething’s leadership.
Just some hours later, Gething publicly resigned while also publishing a statement and screenshot evidence to support his decision to sack Hannah Blythyn.
He stated that though it had been a challenging time for his family, it had been the ‘honour of [his] life’ to serve as First Minister, and to ‘be able to show underrepresented communities that there is a place for them, for us, in Wales’. Indeed, his leadership marked an important moment for Wales, as Gething became the first black leader of a government in Europe.
What now?
It seems unlikely that the Labour group in the Senedd will be able to get behind a single ‘unity’ candidate, meaning a second leadership election is likely.
Those who have been critical of Gething’s leadership may look to Jeremy Miles as a natural contender, especially given he came second in March’s election with 48.3% of the vote. Meanwhile, those seeking greater continuity between administrations will now be busy trying to settle upon a candidate of their own. Names such as Huw Irranca-Davies, Ken Skates, Rebecca Evans, and Eluned Morgan are ones to watch.
The Labour Party’s Welsh Executive committee will meet in the coming days to finalise details on the election timetable.
The next leader
Whoever becomes Wales’s next First Minister, their objective will be the same – to unify the party as quickly as possible in preparation for a 2026 Senedd Election. These elections will be the first to use a reformed electoral system (a D’Hondt formula to select 6 Members of the Senedd from ‘closed lists’ in each of the 16 constituencies).
With Welsh Labour’s vote share down by 3.9%, Plaid Cymru’s vote share up by 4.9%, and Reform’s vote share at 16.9%, a proportional system of this nature may prove difficult for Welsh Labour to navigate.
