Vote now: Should Vaughan Gething resign after losing a Senedd no-confidence vote
Vaughan Gething has vowed to carry on as First Minister despite losing a no-confidence vote in the Senedd on Wednesday (5 June).
He lost the vote on his leadership by 29 votes against him to 27 for. He branded the motion a “transparent gimmick” that was impacted by two Labour MSs missing the vote because they were unwell.
The motion was non-binding and cannot force Mr Gething to stand aside from his role as First Minister, but the result will be highly embarrassing for him.
Mr Gething, who has been the Welsh Labour leader since March, faced the no-confidence vote after being plagued by scandal during his short time in office.
Donation
Concerns were raised after Nation.Cymru revealed Mr Gething had accepted a donation from a man convicted of environmental offences during his run to be Welsh Labour leader.
Mr Gething has also refused to show any evidence to explain why he sacked Hannah Blythyn from his government, after he accused her of leaking messages.
The First Minister’s decision followed a Nation.Cymru article 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.
Covid-19 inquiry
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.
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”.
Vote here if you think the First Minister should resign after losing the no-confidence vote or is right to stay on.
Yes
Click here if you think the First Minister should resign after losing a Senedd no-confidence vote
No
Click here if you don't think the First Minister should resign after losing a Senedd no-confidence vote
The poll is open until Saturday 8 June and the result will be published after 6pm.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Cannot vote 🗳️ on the link
Hi – sorry about that! It could be that the IP address has already registered a vote from someone else in the house. You could otherwise try voting via your phone using 3,4 or 5G. Hope that works.
I think you should put the results up as they come in. Less chance of the vote being thought of as rigged.