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July 16, 2024 - 3:55pm
So farewell then, Vaughan Gething. Just four months to the day after taking office as First Minister of Wales, the Labour leader has resigned.
Gething’s downfall shares striking similarities with that of Humza Yousaf — beyond the much commented-upon fact that they were each the first ethnic-minority leader of their respective countries, and the brevity of their tenures.
Like his Scottish counterpart, Gething took over from a very successful predecessor. Mark Drakeford might not have brought Welsh Labour to the dizzying heights to which Nicola Sturgeon took the SNP, but he managed to maintain its position as Wales’s default party despite a woeful record on key issues such as education and health, which is a political achievement if nothing else.
Moreover, like Yousaf, Gething was in no small part responsible for his own downfall. Each inherited a government dependent on a smaller party in its devolved parliament, and each alienated that party. Here, the Welsh leader probably deserves more of the blame. Yousaf’s handling of the Scottish Greens was clumsy, but internal pressure to scrap the Bute House Agreement was mounting, and with the SNP falling in the polls their cosy electoral pact was probably doomed anyway.
Plaid Cymru, on the other hand, walked out of their agreement in May over the sacking of Hannah Blythyn, formerly the Welsh Government’s minister for social partnership, whom Gething accused of leaking texts in which he, as health minister, said he was deleting messages during the Covid-19 pandemic.
When one is strong, such ruthlessness — used with good judgement — can enhance that strength. When one is weak, such heavy-handedness only alienates colleagues. And Gething was weak: his leadership campaign was dogged by the story of his taking large donations from a convicted polluter, as well as allegations of old-fashioned trade union stitch-ups against his opponent, Jeremy Miles.
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SubscribeThe only certainty is that next Dear Leader will be as useless as all of the others.
I don’t know the guy at all, but do we have an example of a first minister that is NOT pointless, damaging or both?
“Labour’s very strong general election result in Wales…”. 37% of the vote on a 56% turnout. Almost 300,000 votes lost since 2017. In the long history of the Labour movement in Wales, that does not count as a very strong result. At best, it was a cry of despair at the alternatives.
None of the secondary elected members seem capable of doing the day job. Salmond, Sturgeon, Yousef, Drakeford and this guy Gething. All seem really to love the idea of power without thinking any work needs doing.
In principal I like the idea of local democracy but there is little to no responsibility for outcomes in any of the devolved areas.
Someone who would focus on the parameters of responsibilities and try to make these the best they can be for their constituency would be lovely but this type of politician seems to be, sadly, very rare indeed.
I fail to understand why anyone in Wales votes Labour. They have been disastrous for Welsh businesses and individuals.
Welsh Labour have presided over falling education standards, worse health care and longer NHS waiting lists than England, poor job and opportunity prospects and an increasing number of young people leaving the principality.
The people of Wales are not happier, healthier or wealthier under the yoke of Labour serfdom. Why do people keep voting for them?
Its a dirty habit that goes back for generations.
The Welsh economy is largely dependent on the largesse of the Public Sector and the remaining private sector enterprises are rapidly being regulated out of existence-so they are basically voting for a system that enables their continued employment.
From Neil Kinnock down, the entire Welsh Labour Establishment supported Vaughan Gething for Leader, and thus for First Minister.
Good riddance.
The BBC reported: “In his resignation statement, the first black leader of a national government in Europe addressed “those in Wales who look like me – many of whom I know feel personally bruised and worried by this moment”.
Why is Gething (like Obama) referred to as ‘black’? Genetically and ethnically he is exactly half white and half black (like Obama). This racialisation is not merely irritating but offensive by effectively dismissing white ethnicity.
By referring to “those in Wales who look like me” (presumably ‘black’ people) Gething revealed his own racialist worldview. We want leaders inclusively to represent all of us; not to bang the ethnic minority drum and thereby exclude a swathe of the electorate, in the case of Wales the majority.
The long road out of devolution can now start in Wales given the Tories are out of office in London. All blame, and there will be masses of it, will be directed at Labour. Remember the referendum in Wales only passed by a sliver.
Sooner or later people in Wales and Scotland are going to start asking questions about devolution. Is it working? If not, why not? What should be done about it?