{"id":55471,"date":"2024-05-21T15:18:13","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T15:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/21\/vaughan-gething-very-difficult-time-for-government-says-waless-first-minister\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T15:18:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T15:18:13","slug":"vaughan-gething-very-difficult-time-for-government-says-waless-first-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/21\/vaughan-gething-very-difficult-time-for-government-says-waless-first-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaughan Gething: ‘Very difficult’ time for government, says Wales’s first minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vaughan<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Wales’s first minister Vaughan Gething has said it has been a “very difficult time for members across the government”.<\/p>\n

The Labour leader faced further questions on Tuesday over a controversial \u00a3200k donation<\/strong><\/a> to his leadership campaign.<\/p>\n

Critics have argued that he should not have accepted the money from a man convicted of environmental offences. Mr Gething<\/strong><\/a> has said the donation was within the rules.<\/p>\n

It was the first time Senedd<\/strong><\/a> members had the chance to question the first minister since Hannah Blythyn was sacked from the government<\/strong><\/a> last week for allegedly leaking messages to the media.<\/p>\n

Ms Blythyn denied any wrongdoing and said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by her dismissal.<\/p>\n

Welsh Conservative<\/strong><\/a> leader Andrew RT Davies said there was a “discrepancy” between the accounts of the first minister and the former minister.<\/p>\n

“One of them is right and one of them is wrong,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Davies went on to say that the decision to sack Ms Blythyn meant her reputation “lies in tatters”.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Hannah Blythyn was sacked from the government last week.
\nPic: Senedd Cymru
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Mr Gething told the leader of the Welsh Conservative leader there was “a responsibility on [him] to make that choice” but that he would not give a “running commentary”.<\/p>\n

“I still think there is a future for [Ms Blythyn] in this institution and potentially in the government in the future,” he added.<\/p>\n

He also confirmed he would not publish the evidence as he said no other government would do so under similar circumstances.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week also saw Plaid Cymru<\/strong><\/a> pull out of a cooperation agreement with the Labour government.<\/p>\n

The deal, which saw the Welsh nationalists lend their support on dozens of policy areas, was set to come to an end at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth asked the first minister to confirm where the remaining \u00a331k of the controversial donation money would now go.<\/p>\n

Mr Gething said Plaid Cymru’s withdrawal was a matter of “regret”.<\/p>\n

“I’d have been happy to see the agreement go through to the end,” he added.<\/p>\n

Read more:
FM ‘entirely relaxed’ after being accused of misleading inquiry<\/a>
Some 20mph roads may return to 30mph by end of year<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Follow
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n
\n Follow Sky News on WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News<\/p>\n

Tap here<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr Gething, who reaffirmed his commitment to reviewing future rules surrounding political donations, also confirmed the money remaining from his campaign would be donated to “progressive causes”.<\/p>\n

The money was previously expected to be returned to Labour centrally.<\/p>\n

A Welsh Labour Party spokesperson said: “As agreed by the Officers of the Welsh Executive Committee (WEC), Vaughan Gething is donating surplus funds from his campaign to wider progressive causes.”<\/p>\n

Sky News understands the full WEC will now approve the donation, as per party protocols.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wales’s first minister Vaughan Gething has said it has been a “very difficult time for members across the government”. The Labour leader faced further questions on Tuesday over a controversial \u00a3200k donation to his leadership campaign. Critics have argued that he should not have accepted the money from a man convicted of environmental offences. Mr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/768x432\/skynews-hannah-blythyn-senedd-cymru_6482685.jpg?20240308104428","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[23667,1976,3954,2124,222,1975,2172],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55473,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55471\/revisions\/55473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}