Vaughan Gething poised to make history as Wales' inaugural Black first minister and national leader
After winning the Welsh Labour leadership election, Vaughan Gething will take over as Wales's next first minister.
The nation's first Black leader, the minister of economy, will take over from Mark Drakeford, who declared his desire to step down in December after serving in the position for five years.
On Saturday, the day after his 50th birthday, Mr. Gething was selected by Welsh Labour members to be their party leader. The results were announced in Cardiff. But he won't become the first minister until Wednesday, when the Welsh parliament will have a vote.He defeated the education minister Jeremy Miles, his lone opponent, in a vote that was limited to around 100,000 party members as well as members of trade unions and related groups.
It is anticipated that Mr. Drakeford will continue to serve as the First Minister's Questioner until Tuesday.
The transfer of power occurs at a difficult moment for Wales, with farmer protests, record-high NHS waiting lists, and an economy still recuperating from the coronavirus pandemic that Mr. Gething was health minister for.
Greeting the triumph as a “historic moment that speaks to the progress and values of modern-day Wales”, Sir Keir Starmer stated: “I know he will lead a hopeful, ambitious Welsh Labour government, in the face of a tired and failed Tory government in Westminster, with his many years of experience in the Senedd.
"We look forward to working with Vaughan in this new chapter for Wales, to deliver Labour governments across Britain," stated the UK Labour Party as a whole.
Labour supporters congratulate Gething on winning the leadership campaign.
Labour supporters congratulate Gething on winning the leadership campaign (PA)
While Neil Kinnock, the UK party's leader from 1983 to 1992, and the majority of the major unions backed Mr. Gething, the majority of the debate surrounding the leadership contest has focused on Mr. Gething.
A company named Atlantic Recycling, which was found guilty of environmental offences in January and fined £300,000 in February in connection with the death of one of its employees after admitting to breaking health and safety regulations, has been the subject of several concerns regarding donations totaling approximately £200,000 that the company made to Mr. Gething.
The BBC disclosed earlier this week that Mr. Gething had urged Natural Resources Wales to loosen regulations on Atlantic Recycling in 2016 in order to support the business.
Mr. Gething received £100,000 from the company on December 18 and an additional £100,000 on January 11. Mr. Gething and his staff have consistently maintained that Mr. Gething is dedicated to transparency and that the donations were disclosed in accordance with the guidelines established by the Welsh parliament and the Electoral Commission.
Concerns were also voiced early in the campaign about Unite's choice to support Mr. Gething, given that his opponent was declared ineligible due to his lack of experience holding "elected lay office as [a representative] of workers."
During the epidemic, Gething was the health minister and testified before the UK Cardiff Covid-19 Inquiry (UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA)
Mr. Miles, his opponent, claimed that members were dissatisfied and that it was "a new rule that no one was aware of." However, Unite maintained that it had conducted the nomination process appropriately, and Mr. Gething asserted that the union should be in charge of deciding on its own democratic procedures.
In contrast to earlier Labour leadership contests, every vote carried the same weight. Previously, a "electoral college" system was used for selections, giving MPs and members of the Welsh parliament more weight.
Vaughan Gething is who?
After serving in the cabinet from 2016—first as health minister until 2021 and then as economy minister—Mr. Gething joined the Labour Party at the age of 17 in order to assist with the 1992 election campaign. He has been a member of the Senedd (MS) since 2011.
In 1974, Mr. Gething was born in Zambia, the country where his mother, a chicken farmer, and father, a Welsh veterinarian from Ogmore-by-Sea in Glamorgan, met.
In his campaign materials, he expressed his desire to prevent discrimination in Wales and talked candidly about his personal experiences with it. His family relocated to Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, when he was two years old. His father was supposed to start a new work there, but the offer was revoked when he showed up with a Black family.
The family relocated to Dorset after his father lost his work in Abergavenny, and Mr. Gething afterwards attended Aberystwyth University to study law. Before being elected to the Cardiff council in 2004 for the Butetown neighbourhood, he ran unsuccessfully in 1999 for the seat representing Mid and West Wales in the first National Assembly elections.
In 2011, he entered the Senedd once more and was elected to the Cardiff South and Penarth seat. He has run for the top position twice before, losing to Mark Drakeford in 2018.
What has he declared on his triumph?
"Today we turn the page in the book of our nation's history," Mr. Gething stated during a speech to Labour members on Saturday. We write a history together.
"Not only am I honoured to be the first Black leader in any European nation, but the age divide has also shrunk. I have not had to accept devolution as a new normal or offer an apology for it.
"It's in my blood to support devolution—Welsh answers to Welsh issues and possibilities. It's what I've always known during my whole political career, and an increasing proportion of our folks also believe this.
"I hope we can start now and march into the future with more self-assurance. A forward-thinking march for the generation that is far too frequently expected to shoulder the burdens and financial obligations of their predecessors.
He declared that the Welsh are unmatched in times of hardship, "fighting tooth and nail" to make the unthinkable happen, and that "Yma o hyd (still here) is no longer enough." It goes without saying that we still exist today, that we always have, and always will.
"Beth Nesaf, what comes next is the question we have for you today. Can we respond to the generation's appeal by working to create the Wales they desire, a Wales in which they feel proud and in which we are all able to take pride?
"I think we can," I laid out the foundation for our journey there. For a stronger Wales, a healthier country, a place to call home, green prosperity, and aspirational futures. We can win the upcoming general election, I'm sure of it.
What responses have other groups given to his win?
Rhun ap Iorwerth, head of Plaid Cymru, congratulated Mr. Gething but cautioned that “his party’s own record means he inherits significant challenges”.
"He has sat around the cabinet table and held key portfolios while the NHS waiting lists have grown, the Welsh economy has stagnated, and child poverty remains a national scandal," Mr. Ap Iowerth stated. There was nothing mentioned throughout the leadership race to indicate that the way these enormous difficulties are being addressed will suddenly shift.
However, he also carries his own private problems. It is quite concerning that our next first minister is being investigated for serious charges and has doubts about his judgement before he even assumes the position of most important public servant.
"Vaughan Gething should, at the absolute least, repay the £200,000 campaign donation that has rightfully sparked a great deal of criticism from both inside and outside of his own party. For Wales, this is not as nice as it gets.
"I daresay it will be business as usual because he's been cut of the same cloth as Mark Drakeford," Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies remarked. "But I offer this to Vaughan Gething."