After weeks of controversy that started almost as soon as he took office, the First Minister, Vaughan Gething has today resigned.
There is no denying that Gething made history as the first black First Minister for Wales, and it is a notable achievement for both Gething and Wales, but sadly this major milestone in diversity was quickly overshadowed by a series of scandals that have ultimately led to his resignation today.
The scandals started before he even took office, with much criticism of his acceptance of a £200,000 donation towards his campaign from Dauson Environment Group, a company owned by David John Neal, a convicted polluter who received a suspended sentence of three months in 2013 for illegally dumping waste and a further one of 18 months in 2017 for not cleaning it up.
This was swiftly followed by accusations of deleting messages that could not then be submitted to the Covid enquiry. This was leaked to the press, but then his controversial sacking of Junior Minister, Hannah Blethyn whom it was implied had leaked the story to the media, only added to the pressure, and earlier this week Nation Cymru publicly confirmed that she was not their source anyway – meanwhile the impact on Ms. Blethyn’s mental health from the very public sacking was painful and visible.
Despite Blethyn having quickly being replaced with Sarah Murphy MS, the pressures continued, with the debate over the integrity of the First Minister even overshadowing other controversial issues. The agreement with Plaid Cymru broke down leaving Welsh Labour without an overall majority in the Senedd.
Meanwhile, Gething also inherited the pressures that remained from Mark Drakeford’s leadership in Wales, such as controversial 20mph speed limit. Despite being discussed in the Senedd, the issue has not been resolved and protests continue, and these pressures are unlikely to go anywhere fast now it has emerged that fines in Wales 20mph zones already total more than £1.28million.
Unsurprisingly, Gething lost a confidence vote in his leadership last month, but described it as a ‘gimmick’ and hung on regardless.
Time, however, ran out today when four of his own cabinet ministers resigned.
Mick Antoniw, Julie James, Lesley Griffiths and Jeremy Miles all left post telling the Labour first minister that they were unable to continue to do their jobs unless he stood down.
The new First Minister’s scandal-hit resignation brings a swift end to a very turbulent leadership amid a challenging time for Wales, and the party and the Senedd now faces the additional disruption of electing a new leader. Business leaders are now calling for stable leadership.
Tim Thomas, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Propertymark, said:
“The housing sector in Wales faces key challenges and property agents need to see stable leadership to help meet these head on and implement planned reforms.
“The process for appointing Vaughan Gething as First Minister in March has already delayed the Welsh Government’s proposed white paper on fair rents and adequate housing from the summer to the autumn. This instability should not be allowed to continue – Welsh Labour must appoint a new leader quickly to guarantee consistency and give confidence to property professionals, renters, landlords and home buyers and sellers.
“Ultimately, the new First Minister should use their appointment as a fresh opportunity to stop any chance of rent control measures becoming a reality, review all costs and taxes impacting private landlords to tackle the supply and demand crunch in the private rented sector, continue to engage with property professionals to improve building safety across Wales and extend Help to Buy to the second-hand housing market in order to boost home ownership.”
Mark Baker, 20mph Petitioner said:
“I was initially buoyed by Mr. Gething’s prior support for the M4 relief road, but first and foremost Wales needs a leader that can rebuild confidence in the Welsh business community, that understands the overwhelming importance of honesty and trust and that is willing to lead with transparency and integrity. Sadly, this has been sorely lacking, not only in his leadership but across UK politics as a whole. We need leaders whose first loyalty is to their constituents and not to their donors, nor to their own pet projects or past employers. Wales desperately needs investment in infrastructure and roads that are fit for purpose.
“In my view, the Senedd has been run like a Parish Council and it feels like constituents have no right to a say once the leaders are in place. I thank the former First Minister for doing the right thing today and I hope his successor will show more willing to work with business and community leaders and tackle the issues that matter to Welsh residents rather than their own priorities or those of paid contractors with employment links to Ministers.”
Natasha Asghar, Member of the Welsh Parliament for South East Wales, said:
“Vaughan Gething’s time as First Minister has been marred by scandal after scandal, and his resignation has been long overdue.
“His never-ending controversies, and the subsequent firefighting, has left the government in deadlock, failing to tackle the big issues that truly matter to the people of Wales.
“Let’s be clear, all of the Labour politicians who continuously backed Vaughan despite these major controversies, are equally to blame for this breakdown in governance.
“The Welsh people deserve better than this and it is a great shame that Vaughan Gething wasted this truly historic opportunity.
“Being the First Minister of Wales is a hugely privileged position and it comes with responsibility, the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead, and also when you are not.”
The leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrat’s Jane Dodds MS said:
“We cannot afford to allow internal fighting in Welsh labour to distract us any longer from the range of serious issues facing our country.
“The Welsh people are sick and tired of constant political scandals and broken promises, they want to see a political system that works for them.”
Annette Jones, Founder of United Voices Senedd Lobby Group said:
“Unfortunately, it has been challenging to get any meaningful dialogue on 20mph when the Senedd has moved from crisis to crisis under this First Minister.
“I can only hope that the new First Minister, whoever that is, will show more integrity and irrespective of political differences, provide stable leadership so that Wales can move on from Gething’s short and turbulent time in office.
“I would also hope that the new First Minister will take the views of nearly half a million Welsh Voters more seriously and not continue to treat Welsh motorists like a cash cow, but at least if we start with integrity and transparency that gives us somewhere to build from.”
We will update this as more comments come in.