The Labour party is coming under increasing pressure to return money donated to the new Welsh first minister by a company whose owner was convicted of environmental crimes.
Opposition politicians in Wales said Labour must not use money left over from Vaughan Gething’s successful campaign to become first minister and argued it was now a matter for the UK party rather than just Welsh Labour.
The issue has blighted the first two months of Gething’s leadership, which suffered yet another blow on Thursday when he sacked a minister after the leaking of an embarrassing phone message from the time of the pandemic when he was Welsh health minister.
Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said decisions made by Gething during his leadership campaign and “internal divisions” were undermining his authority.
Davies said: “Vaughan Gething’s decisions during the Labour leadership campaign are catching up with him. Gething needs to prove quickly that he is capable of governing Wales, because as it stands his government is being stretched to breaking point by internal divisions.”
The BBC reported on Thursday that more than £31,600 of his leadership campaign fund, which included a £200,000 donation from a company called Dauson Environmental Group, whose owner, David John Neal, was convicted of environmental crimes, would go to the Labour party.
Davies said: “These donations are now a question for the whole Labour party. Labour campaigning may now be funded by cash from somebody convicted of environmental offences. Now we will learn if Labour have the courage of their convictions.”
Heledd Fychan, a Plaid Cymru Senedd member, said: “Unless Vaughan Gething does the right thing and commits to returning the donation in full, serious and justified questions about his judgment won’t go away any time soon. The UK Labour party must also show some moral leadership and return the money.
“Failure to do so will mean that every general election candidate in Wales will be funded by questionable money and it also means that Keir Starmer’s big announcement about Labour being the party of change will be nothing but hollow words.”
On Thursday Gething announced the sacking of Hannah Blythyn, who was minister for social partnership.
The dismissal followed the leaking of an exchange with fellow Labour members from the time of the pandemic when he said he was going to delete iMessages. He wrote: “I’m deleting the messages in this group. They can be captured in an FoI [freedom of information request] and I think we are all in the right place on the choice being made.” Gething has said the messages were not about government business but related to internal discussions within the Senedd Labour group.
Announcing the dismissal, Gething said: “Having reviewed the evidence available to me regarding the recent disclosure of communication to the media, I have regrettably reached the conclusion I have no alternative but to ask Hannah Blythyn to leave the government.”
But Blythyn said: “I am deeply shocked and saddened by what has happened. I am clear and have been clear that I did not, nor have I ever leaked anything. Integrity is all in politics and I retain mine.”
