Vaughan Gething to quit as Welsh first minister
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Vaughan Gething has announced he is quitting as Wales’s first minister.
In a statement, he said: “I have this morning taken the difficult decision to begin the process of stepping down as leader of the Welsh Labour Party and, as a result, First Minister.
“Having been elected as leader of my party in March, I had hoped that over the summer a period of reflection, rebuilding and renewal could take place under my leadership.
“I recognise now that this is not possible.
“It has been the honour of my life to do this job even for a few short months.”
It comes after four ministers quit the Welsh government this morning, telling the Labour first minister they cannot get on with their jobs “without you standing down”.
Mr Gething was elected to become First Minister in March but quickly faced an array of problems.
He came under sustained criticism for his decision to sack former minister Hannah Blythyn over the leak of a text message, which she denies being behind, and questions were raised about a controversial £200k donation to his leadership campaign.
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 (Welsh parliament) 29-27.
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Wales first minister in tears
Mr Gething said the motion was a “gimmick” and that opposition parties had declined to take part in a pairing arrangement to balance out the votes of two Labour members who were unwell.
Critics said Mr Gething’s leadership campaign should not have accepted the donation from the company of a man previously convicted of environmental offences.
The Labour leader said the donation was within the rules and was declared in line with party protocols.
He refused calls for an inquiry into the donation, but instead commissioned a wider review into political donations.
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Mick Antoniw, Julie James, Lesley Griffiths and Jeremy Miles all quit their cabinet positions in a protest over Mr Gething’s leadership.
Mr Gething, who was the Welsh health minister during the pandemic, also faced accusations he had misled the COVID Inquiry.
In a leaked text message from August 2020, he said: “I’m deleting the messages in this group” as they could be “captured in an FOI”.
Government minister Hannah Blythyn was sacked for allegedly leaking to the media – allegations she denies.
Plaid Cymru then withdrew from the Labour government’s cooperation agreement with the party.
News website Nation.Cymru, who broke the story, has since denied that Ms Blythyn was its source.
The Welsh Conservatives put forward a motion calling for the publication of the evidence upon which Ms Blythyn was sacked.
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