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First Minister faces second vote of no confidence in Senedd

10 Jul 2024 3 minute read
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meeting First Minister of Wales Vaughan Gething at the Senedd,. Photo Alastair Grant/PA Wire

The First Minister is set to face another vote of no confidence, a month after losing the last one.

The Welsh Conservatives have tabled a motion in the Senedd for next week, in the hopes of compelling Vaughan Gething to publish the evidence he used to sack Hannah Blythyn from the government.

This is the second time the First Minister has faced a no confidence vote since becoming leader in March.

Mr Blythyn was removed from the government in May, following accusations by Mr Gething that she leaked a screenshot of messages to Nation.Cymru.

The member of the Senedd for Delyn denied she was behind the leak in a statement to the chamber on Tuesday and insisted she was shown no evidence before her dismissal.

Mr Gething told the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday that it was “clear” the leak came from Ms Blythyn, “having crossed check the photograph with a full set of messages”.

The Conservatives have called the no confidence motion saying Ms Blythyn’s statement contradicts the First Minister’s claims that there is evidence.

Dragged

Andrew RT Davies MS, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: “Yet again, because he will not provide any answers voluntarily, the First Minister has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the Senedd.

“The First Minister expects us to take his word for it that he had evidence to sack Hannah Blythyn, but sadly, thanks to his behaviour in office, the people of Wales cannot take his word for it.

“It’s time to get answers, and I hope Members across the Senedd will join us next week in voting for transparency in government.”

Mr Gething told the Senedd on Wednesday he did not intend to release any further information unless everyone involved in the message group was “content for that to happen”.

One member, Mike Hedges, said he was content for his name to be unredacted.

The Tories have said that if their motion passes, Mr Gething may be compelled to release any evidence under the Government of Wales Act 2006, which “grants the Senedd the power to require the First Minister to produce documents relevant to the exercise of Welsh Ministers’ functions”.

Mr Gething lost the previous vote in June in part because Ms Blythyn and another Labour MS, Lee Waters, were not present.

Ms Blythyn has since revealed she was signed off sick following her removal from government, which led to “acute anxiety and stress”.

The Welsh government has been contacted for comment.


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Evan Aled Bayton
Evan Aled Bayton
2 months ago

Keep going – dyfal donc!

Why vote
Why vote
2 months ago

What is the point of this vote, he has ignored the first one. Keep him on until 2026 then we shall see what the electorate thinks of him and the labour party loyal Ms’s who toe the line instead of listening to constants.

SundanceKid
SundanceKid
2 months ago
Reply to  Why vote

They may have grounds to believe that they’ll win a second one as well, otherwise this is a risky move.

We all know that if he loses again, he still won’t go and Westminster Labour will back him to the hilt once more.

Which will be even more damaging to Labour’s prospects in 2026.

Last edited 2 months ago by SundanceKid
Linda Jones
Linda Jones
2 months ago

Good news. Gething has to be forced out, he is lacking in integrity, decency and honesty. He is a laughing stock

Aggie Llew
Aggie Llew
2 months ago
Reply to  Linda Jones

Unlike to Tories who are bastions of integrity decency and honesty? 😂😂😂.

Adrian
Adrian
2 months ago
Reply to  Aggie Llew

Two things can be true at the same time you know?

SundanceKid
SundanceKid
2 months ago
Reply to  Aggie Llew

So, he should be unaccountable just because he’s a Labour politician??

Old Curmudgeon
Old Curmudgeon
2 months ago
Reply to  Aggie Llew

And look at what happened to them? Two wrongs don’t make it right.

Paul Goodwin
Paul Goodwin
2 months ago
Reply to  Aggie Llew

its a bit like comparing a mouse to a crocodile. l havent seen a conservative in executive power in wales for my lifetime. (l am 72) l do renember the Said labour executives forcing the cimpulsory purchase of over 600 steel companies in the 60’s. some ugly scenes as they stole your and my industrial future in virtually one swoop. The procedure was called “the nationalisation of the nation’s steel industry” Labour heralded it as “undoubtedly the best thing for the future of the steel industry”…. they forgot to say ” the russian and chinese steel industry”. l still feel… Read more »

John Ellis
John Ellis
2 months ago

In the normal course of things, I don’t at all care for Andrew R.T. Davies, but in his pursuit of Mr Gething on this specific issue I think that he’s spot on.

Aggie Llew
Aggie Llew
2 months ago
Reply to  John Ellis

The pot and the kettle are fighting. 😩🤨

Aggie Llew
Aggie Llew
2 months ago

So this is the one thing the obsolete party is going to keep doing week after week, now that the head has been cut off the snake at Westminster?
Yeah, seems like a good use of taxpayer’s money!

Adrian
Adrian
2 months ago
Reply to  Aggie Llew

I don’t think Gething, Wales’s answer to Boris Johnson, is a good use of tax payers’ money.

Simmo
Simmo
2 months ago

I need to clarify the numbers –
but , while it looks like a small number of members of his own party won’t even support him in no confidence votes going forward, he will then keep losing them , will he not? In which case opposition parties could just keep calling for no confidence motions? Which, if it keeps going on, it has the potential to keep eroding the Senedd i feel.

Simmo
Simmo
2 months ago
Reply to  Simmo

…so the FMs position looks less and less sustainable if that keeps happening.

Morfudd ap Haul
Morfudd ap Haul
2 months ago

Labour have just won a stonking majority. We have just had an election, a few Plaid MP’s One Liberal the rest Labour.

CapM
CapM
2 months ago

That’s going on in London.
Meanwhile back in Caerdydd.

Sneb yn gwbod.
Sneb yn gwbod.
2 months ago
Reply to  CapM

Caerdydd voted Labour, Vaughan’s party.

CapM
CapM
2 months ago
Reply to  Sneb yn gwbod.

As the headline says –

First Minister faces second vote of no confidence in Senedd

In Caerdydd that is not London

SundanceKid
SundanceKid
2 months ago

And your point is?

Old Curmudgeon
Old Curmudgeon
2 months ago

This seems a risky gamble. If he doesn’t lose it will give his ego a real boost. No doubt he will make a fool of himself with whatever he gets involved in next. Surely this incompetent first minister will go soon.

Ted rogers
Ted rogers
2 months ago

The man’s a wide boy a crook.should be asking to see receipts for the money spent.?

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