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Senior Labour figures throw support behind embattled Gething

10 Jun 2024 5 minute read
First Minister of Wales Vaughan Gething (left) and shadow secretary of state for business and trade Jonathan Reynolds. Photo Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Senior Labour figures have thrown their support behind the embattled First Minister, branding a no-confidence vote against him last week as a “stunt”.

Vaughan Gething suffered a major blow to his position in the Senedd last Wednesday when he lost a no-confidence motion in his leadership 29-27.

Following the vote, opposition parties called on the First Minister to step down, but he vowed to stay in place.

Now senior Labour members have insisted Mr Gething, who has been embroiled in a series of scandals since before his election, has their full support.

Jo Stevens, the shadow Welsh secretary, branded the motion – put forward by the Conservatives – a “stunt” while, Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow secretary of state for business, insisted it was a “gimmick”.

The senior Labour figures were speaking during a visit to Tata Steel in Port Talbot with the First Minister on Monday.

‘Broken no rules’

Ms Stevens said: “Vaughan has broken no rules.

“The Tory leader in Wales has said on the floor of the Senedd that Vaughan has broken no rules.

“We’re just focusing on getting on with the General Election campaign, aiming to get a UK Labour government working with a Welsh Labour government for the benefit of everybody across Wales.”

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, added that he 100% supported Mr Gething.

“The whole of the UK Labour movement does,” he said.

“I know he is absolutely the right person (for the job).”

Asked if he would stand down if he had lost a no-confidence vote, Mr Reynolds did not answer, instead calling the vote a “gimmick”.

He said: “Who is delivering and focusing on the issues here in Wales? It’s Vaughan.

“When we compare the Labour campaign to our opponents, we are confident of the case we are making, we are confident of the case we have been making and the progress we’ve made so far.”

Hiccups

Mr Gething did not answer when asked if there would be no more hiccups, but said righting the ship involved him getting on with the job.

Mr Gething said: “I’m absolutely focused on the job.

“Look at what happened at the end of last week, we made an offer to the BMA (British Medical Association) to help resolve the strike action (by doctors in Wales), there’s more that we’re going to do in the next week and the week after that.”

Wednesday afternoon’s dramatic scenes in the Senedd followed the collapse of the co-operation deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru and a series of rows involving Mr Gething.

Mr Gething has previously called it a “very disappointing afternoon”, branding the motion a “transparent gimmick” that was impacted by two members of his party being unwell.

Without the absence of Hannah Blythyn, who Mr Gething recently sacked from his government, and Lee Waters, the no-confidence motion was unlikely to have passed.

The motion was non-binding and will not force Mr Gething to stand aside from his role as First Minister, but the result will be embarrassing for him.

Mr Gething was visibly emotional during the debate and could be seen wiping tears from his eyes.

Judgement

Mr Gething, who has been the Welsh Labour leader since March, faced the no-confidence vote after being plagued by questions about his judgement during his short time in office.

Concerns were raised after Mr Gething accepted a donation from a man convicted of environmental offences during his run to be leader.

Mr Gething had also refused to show any evidence to explain why he sacked Senedd member Ms Blythyn from his government, after he accused her of leaking messages to the media.

The First Minister’s decision followed a report on Nation.Cymru which featured a message posted to a ministerial group chat in August 2020 by Mr Gething, stating that he was “deleting the messages in this group”.

He said the leaked message was from a section of an iMessage group chat with other Labour ministers and related to internal discussions within the Senedd Labour group.

He told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that lost WhatsApp messages were not deleted by him, but by the Welsh Parliament’s IT team during a security rebuild.

Leaked

Mr Gething has always insisted that all rules were followed when he took the donation and denied the leaked message contradicted the evidence he had given to the inquiry, adding that it did not relate to pandemic decision-making but “comments that colleagues make to and about each other”.

Following the no-confidence vote last Wednesday Plaid Cymru called for Vaughan Gething to quit.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid also said his party would consider tabling a motion of no-confidence in the Welsh Government as a whole.

He said: “This has been damaging to democracy in Wales and when you do have a vote of no-confidence it sends a very clear and democratic message that the only honourable response would be a resignation.”

Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said Mr Gething had “lost the confidence of the people of Wales”.

He said: “He has lost the confidence of the Senedd. The only person who is still batting for Vaughan Gething is Keir Starmer.”


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Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
4 months ago

‘Just a Minute’

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
4 months ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

Vehicle insurance claims down 20% in Cymru thanks to 20mph…in the Guardian !

Howie
Howie
4 months ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

Mine just went up even with low mileage and 15+ years NCB.

Evan Aled Bayton
Evan Aled Bayton
4 months ago

This is an excellent reason not to vote Labour in the forthcoming general election. It is evident that leopards do not change their spots and the deeply embedded corruption in the Labour Party in Wales is not yet overcome. The national Labour members should have borne devolution in mind and said that it was a matter for the Welsh Senedd. So in this one episode the Senedd is discredited and shown to be perceived in England as some larger county council worthy of manipulation by the National Labour Party.

robin campbell
robin campbell
4 months ago

Wales is Labour’s fiefdom

Evan Aled Bayton
Evan Aled Bayton
4 months ago
Reply to  robin campbell

That doesn’t justify inappropriate or bad behaviour. Wales was associated traditionally with Christian Social Democracy arising out of Methodism and the Trade Unions but in the second half of the 20th Century extreme theoretical socialist ideas mostly held by upper class and wealthy middle class people like Tony Benn obliterated that. There are whole doctorates to be written still about this but in the meantime the question is how to make a better fist out of the opportunities granted by devolution which to date has frankly not been very successful.

Nia James
Nia James
4 months ago

One thing we know is that Labour’s mentality eschews democracy. London desperately needs VG to stay in place as they know that he is now so weak and supine that they can walk all over him. A very tough and sad period awaits Wales.

Padi Phillips
Padi Phillips
4 months ago
Reply to  Nia James

I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Whilst times certainly won’t be good, I doubt they’ll be any worse than they have been for the past 14 years, or indeed most of the past 45 years since the neoliberal nonsense started to be foisted on us. It might be a little disappointing in that things don’t get much better, but Gething remaining in place could be a silver lining for a Plaid Cymru that’s gotten its act together… And also a huge boost to the independence movement as more realise the connection between Westminster rule and the failing state of… Read more »

hdavies15
hdavies15
4 months ago
Reply to  Padi Phillips

.”..a silver lining for a Plaid Cymru that’s gotten its act together” I was agreeing with your comment till I came to that bit ! Plaid has meandered into the soggy margins, sunk to a point where it is almost impossible for it to gain serious traction. I agree that keeping VG in place is a gift to some enterprising opposition party but I can’t see anyone at this stage mounting the long term sustained enquiry, the barrage of questioning at Y Senedd, and the programme of communicating with the public/electorate to ensure that “Labour in Wales come unstuck” on… Read more »

Gareth
Gareth
4 months ago

So are we to assume that recent Labour calls for the SNP leader Humza Yousaf to resign were a gimmick and a stunt, or is this a case of blatant hypocrisy and the contempt for devolution that the London parties can not hide.

Rhufawn Jones
Rhufawn Jones
4 months ago

Maybe the best thing indeed for Wales is to keep him in as long as possible so that the gulf between the Labour Party and the public is so great that their century long choke-hold can finally be gotten out of. ?

SundanceKid
SundanceKid
4 months ago
Reply to  Rhufawn Jones

Yes. And as there are further revelations almost certain to come out, this issue won’t be going away any time soon.

Last edited 4 months ago by SundanceKid
Linda Jones
Linda Jones
4 months ago

I would like to see a copy of the ‘rules’ they say Gething hasn’t broken. It seems they are a secret not to be disclosed to us. Hilarious if not so serious. Honestly the Labour Party in Wales is becoming a saga worthy of a Monty Python sketch

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
4 months ago

The one thing I would ask of a Starmer led government after what we have suffered in the last four and a half years would be to vet his people for a clean bill of health in terms of dodgy scandalmongers. It’s not a good start and it hasn’t even started.

Paul Symons
Paul Symons
4 months ago

He might not have broken any laws but he’s proved his lack of judgment and his disregard and disassociation of the general population. I am a floating voter who was seriously considering voting labour in this election but I now feel that by defending these actions I have to believe that labour condone this man’s actions and practices and I don’t want to be governed by people like that.

Daf
Daf
4 months ago

“The whole of UK Labour are behind him.” That’s the problem. Wales Labour aren’t. Gething is being glued in place by Westminster Labour regardless of what it is doing for Wales – just until the general election. If Gething goes before then, it’s a whole heap of trouble for Starmer and co. The only nation in the UK with a Labour government sees support plummet and party in-fighting as their leader resigns because of ‘dodgy donations’? The poor NHS performance and bottom of the class PISA rankings are bad enough. No, Wales just needs to keep quiet and not embarrass… Read more »

A.Redman
A.Redman
4 months ago

If Westminster Labour are more than happy to support someone whose dealings with an offender and the subsequent £200,000 donation,then that shows exactly where their morals lie.If any other member of a different political party had behaved the same way they would be baying for their blood!!!

Welsh Patriot
Welsh Patriot
4 months ago

It wasn’t a stunt, two Welsh Labour MS’s did not vote for Vaughan Gething.

This is the last post that Hannah Blythyn sent after her sacking:

“I am deeply shocked and saddened by what has happened today. I am clear and have been clear that I did not, nor have I ever leaked anything. Integrity is all in politics and I retain mine.”

By the looks of it she wouldn’t have voted for Gething regardless.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
4 months ago

The politics of no morals is now upon us. Yesteryear politicians surrounded by scandal would do the honourable thing by resigning. Not anymore. We have a new breed of autocrat who have their own code of conduct. Namely, rules don’t apply to me. We’ve got to vote this Welsh Labour idiocracy led by Vaughan” dodgy” Gething out of office in 2026. Our Senedd Cymru was meant to be different from that den of iniquity Westminster. A pernicious parliament that would corrupt even a saint. We need change, not the same old tired sloth Labour rule.

Last edited 4 months ago by Y Cymro
Why vote
Why vote
4 months ago

Why is he in port talbot if he’s not going to quit as the leader of Wales then he should be in the senedd dealing with the business of wales for the people of Wales not supporting a foreign party trying to gain power in Wales to control the local politicians. Wales has an election in two years time so until then all senedd MSs should return to their posts and run the country of Wales and stop promoting foreign agent in Wales. If they have nothing better to do why are they expanding the number of seats in the… Read more »

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