Four ministers resign from Welsh government and say First Minister Vaughan Gething must quit
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by 0 Four ministers have resigned from the Welsh government in protest over Vaughan Gething’s leadership.
Mick Antoniw, Julie James, Lesley Griffiths and Jeremy Miles have all quit their cabinet positions, telling the first minister they cannot get on with their jobs “without you standing down”.
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It comes a month after Mr Gething lost a vote of no confidence – but dismissed the motion as a “gimmick” and vowed to carry on.
In his resignation letter, counsel general Mr Antoniw said the Senedd was “rudderless” without a new leader as he urged Mr Gething to “put the country first”.
“Wales needs confident and stable government. I do not believe you are capable of delivering that,” he wrote.
“You have lost a vote of confidence in the Senedd. That is something I regard as being of major constitutional importance.
“It is clear that you no longer command a majority, that you will be unable to enter into the agreements necessary to pass a budget, and for all intents and purposes the Senedd is rudderless.”
He added: “We are all here to do the best for our country. I believe it is now necessary for you to choose to put the country first and resign as First Minister to allow an election for a new First Minister and leader of Welsh Labour.”
The four ministers announced their resignations on separate social media posts on Tuesday morning.
In his letter quitting as Welsh economy secretary, Mr Miles told Mr Gething: “We cannot continue like this.”
He added: “The events of the last few months including your loss of the confidence vote in the Senedd, have been incredibly painful.
“It’s essential that we begin to repair the damage immediately, and I have reached the conclusion very regrettably that this cannot happen under your leadership.
“I can’t see any way forward for us which allows us to get on with job we are elected to do, without you standing down.”
Mr Miles ran against Mr Gething for the Welsh Labour leadership after Mark Drakeford resigned.
Mr Gething was elected to replace Mr Drakeford in March but quickly faced an array of problems.
He came under sustained criticism for his decision to sack former minister Hannah Blythyn, there was a series of rows concerning donations he took while running to be Welsh Labour leader.
This led to the collapse of a co-operation agreement between his party and Plaid Cymru and he subsequently lost a non-binding vote of no confidence in the Senedd.
Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said Mr Gething “has led a government of chaos and put his own self-interest before the interests of the people of Wales” as he caled on him to resign.
“For months, the First Minister’s poor judgement, aversion to scrutiny and ‘do nothing’ approach to governing has undermined the office of First Minister and brought Welsh politics into disrepute.
“Seldom have heads of government in a democracy disregarded the will of its legislature by carrying on despite losing a vote of confidence.”
Attacking new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer he added: “The Labour party has thrown its weight behind Vaughan Gething and Keir Starmer has acted as his main cheerleader. The Ministers who resigned today are equally culpable, they should have acted far sooner than their eleventh hour intervention when it was a case of one bad headline too many.
“The people of Wales are losing faith in Labour’s ability to govern Wales. In its attitude of ‘our way or no way’ and in its record of delivery which is increasingly found wanting – Labour is out of ideas and running out of road with the public.”
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