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Vaughan Gething has been elected as the head of Welsh Labour and will next week become the first black leader of any European country when he is confirmed as first minister of Wales.
Gething, 50, who was Welsh health minister during the pandemic and economy minister for the past three years, beat education minister Jeremy Miles by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
The son of a Welsh father and Zambian mother, Gething said: “Today, we turn a page in the book of our nation’s history. A history we write together. Not just because I have the honour of becoming the first black leader in any European country — but because the generational dial has jumped too.”
Gething’s victory adds to the diversity of the UK’s national political leadership. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a Hindu of Indian heritage, while Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf is the grandson of a Pakistani tailor who migrated to west Scotland in the 1960s.
Labour has run Wales for a quarter of a century since devolution in 1999, either alone or with support from the Liberal Democrats or the nationalist Plaid Cymru. At present Labour has a limited “co-operation agreement” with Plaid on a range of policies that falls short of full coalition.
The contest was sparked when Mark Drakeford, who had been first minister from 2018, announced in December that he was stepping down.
Gething had campaigned on pledges to raise education standards, improve the Welsh NHS, build more homes and deliver more green jobs. His challenges include dealing with criticism of Wales’s controversial 20mph speed limits in urban areas as well as green policies that have led to protests by farmers.
The Welsh government is also exploring plans for the biggest shake-up to council tax in the UK since the levy was introduced in 1993.
In his victory speech, Gething predicted that Labour would win this year’s general election to “defeat the narrow forces of division”.
Keir Starmer, Labour’s national leader, offered congratulations: “His appointment as first minister of Wales, the first black leader in the UK, will be a historic moment that speaks to the progress and values of modern-day Wales.”
Gething was criticised during the campaign for taking £200,000 of donations from a company whose director was given a suspended prison sentence in 2013 for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid’s leader, said: “It is a matter of deep concern that we now have an incoming first minister who before even taking up the highest public office is facing serious allegations and questions about his judgment.
“At the very least, Vaughan Gething should surely return the £200,000 campaign donation which has rightly drawn so much criticism from within his own party and beyond.”
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