Wales’ first minister faces confidence vote

Vaughan Gething will face a crunch confidence vote in the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday.

Conservatives called the vote after weeks of criticism, including from some in Labour, of the donations to Mr Gething’s leadership campaign.

With the Senedd evenly split between the opposition and his party, the first minister needs the whole Labour group to back him.

On Tuesday he said he was confident of winning.

The Tories have the support of Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats.

But with exactly half the Senedd’s 60 seats between them, they do not have enough members to win votes.

Passing the motion would require a Labour MS to rebel, abstain or fail to vote.

Mr Gething said he had kept to all the rules on donations at his weekly question time in the Senedd chamber on Tuesday afternoon.

“I am confident about tomorrow. I look forward to the debate which I will attend,” he said.

He said he “could and should, in my view, have been elsewhere” – a reference to a D-Day commemoration in Portsmouth that he cannot attend because of the debate.

He said the vote was non-binding, meaning he would not have to stand down if he lost.

But a defeat would be a blow to his authority.

Later on Tuesday, there was a dramatic intervention by his predecessor Mark Drakeford.

He criticised Mr Gething’s education secretary, Lynne Neagle, for shelving plans to change the school year – a policy proposed when Mr Drakeford was in charge.

He said he regretted “the damage that will be done to the life chances of the children who were at the heart of this policy”.

Andrew RT Davies, Welsh Conservative Senedd leader, said: “The first minister has completely degraded his office, his authority is shot and he is completely unable to govern at a time when NHS waiting lists in Wales are at record levels thanks to Labour.”

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “The first minister’s unwillingness to admit to his significant error of judgment signifies a worryingly care-free attitude.”