Wales deserves better: This is why people are turned off by politics
The arrogance of some of our politicians is sometimes unbelievable. Plus the Covid inquiry comes to Wales
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A week is a very long time in politics.
At the start of last week the Welsh Labour leadership was chugging along towards a boring and uninspiring conclusion with two candidates that were so alike in policy that it was hard to tell them apart.
But fast forward to now and Vaughan Gething’s campaign is mired in controversy, he has been accused by his own MPs of “damaging politics and devolution” and there are calls for him to pull out of the race.
Yet despite this, I would still have him as the favourite to win.
I am going to start by breaking down exactly what has happened so far, the big unanswered questions and what this says about the state of our politics (as well as how spineless it has made many Welsh Labour politicians look). Then we will move on to talk about what we have learnt from the UK Covid inquiry coming to Wales.
Vaughan Gething’s greatest obstacle in this leadership race is Vaughan Gething
Right, let's break down exactly what has happened so far:
Since December 18 both Vaughan Gething and Jeremy Miles have been campaigning to be the next Welsh Labour leader and therefore First Minister.
Then it emerged that Vaughan Gething had accepted £200,000 from a company called Dauson Environmental group (two donations of £100,000). This is controversial for two reasons:
The size. This sum of money is FAR bigger than we have ever seen in Welsh politics. Mark Drakeford only raised £25,000 when he beat Mr Gething in an earlier race. Welsh Labour only spent £500,000 on the whole of the last Senedd election when they had 100 candidates. Plus the spending limit for each candidate is only £44,000 (though this doesn’t apply to staffing costs).
The source. Dauson Environmental Group’s director David Neal was given a suspended prison sentence in 2013 for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site.
But then things got worse. On Monday WalesOnline broke the story that on the same day that Dauson gave Mr Gething the donation they also put in an application for a massive solar farm on the Gwent Levels on a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The nature of the project means that it needs Welsh Government approval.
You can see the screenshots from the Welsh Gov’s planning portal and the Electoral Commision’’s list of donations here:
This means that if Vaughan Gething wins, his administration will be responsible for approving a large project with big financial implications for a company that helped fund his bid to become First Minister. This is, at the very least, worthy of further questions.
When I approached Mr Gething’s campaign I asked them the following questions:
Was he aware of the Development of National Significance Application when he accepted the donation?
Now he is aware of it, will he be returning the donation?
Does he think this could be perceived as a conflict of interest?
To this I got a very weak response. They simply said:
“It’s a matter of public record that Welsh Government ministers do not and cannot take ministerial decisions on matters relating to businesses in their constituencies.”
Now the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that this doesn’t answer any of the questions I asked. Of course, politicians will often be evasive but this response is pathetic. His campaign has also indicated that he was unaware of the application from Dauson before he took the donation but this raises even more questions.
Yesterday I approached Mr Gething again and asked:
Do you believe there is a conflict of interest that a company who has donated huge sums to your campaign will require the approval of your administration for a large development if you became First Minister?
What due diligence did you perform on Dauson Environmental Group before accepting the donation?
In conversations with DEG did you ever discuss the proposed development on the Gwent Levels?
Why have you not returned the money donated by DEG?
How do you respond to members of your own parliamentary group who claim the donations were "so damaging to politics and devolution”?
If you had known about the Gwent Levels application beforehand, would you have taken the donation from DEG?
They simply respond with:
“Dauson Environmental Group Limited has donated to Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign and all donations are declared to the Senedd and the Electoral Commission in line with the rules and Vaughan's commitment to transparency.
“It’s a matter of public record that Welsh Government ministers do not and cannot take ministerial decisions on matters relating to businesses in their constituencies.”
Now I have had multiple people within Welsh Labour (not supporters of Mr Gething) express how outraged they are with this. They say it is damaging devolution and Welsh politics. And how can it not? I am not saying or implying that this money was donated on the condition that Mr Gething supports this development - I have no idea. But the fact that Mr Gething’s campaign won’t even properly answer these questions is a damaging lack of transparency.
It is obvious that there are questions to answer here but nothing is going to change unless the Labour politicians who support Vaughan Gething grow a backbone and address the issue themselves.
I approached all the MSs, MPs and council leaders who have declared their support for Mr Gething and asked them:
Do you think a donation of this size is appropriate given how much larger it is than any other donation in Welsh politics? Does this constitute a level playing field?
Do you think it could be perceived as a conflict of interest to take the donation given the application the company has submitted?
Do you believe it is appropriate to take the donation given the fact the company is run by a man who was prosecuted for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site?
Are you comfortable with the donations (both the size and source) that Mr Gething has received?
Do you still support Mr Gething in his leadership bid?
I approached all of the following MPs, council leaders and one lord:
Chris Bryant MP
Mark Tami MP
Nick Thomas-Symonds MP
Cllr Huw Thomas
Wayne David MP
Stephen Kinnock MP
Jess Morden MP
Stephen Doughty MP
Lord Murphy
Ruth Jones MP
Only Mark Tami replied saying:
“North Wales is a massive focus for Vaughan in his manifesto, but also in his actions. He’s often up here working alongside me, local government, and our MSs, as well as businesses in the area. He’s a big friend of Airbus in Broughton too, who are indispensable to the economy of Wales and particularly north Wales. I’m in no doubt that Vaughan is the best person for the job of First Minister of Wales.”
On one hand, at least he replied. On the other, he didn’t address the issue. As for the others, their refusal to respond is pathetic.
The Senedd Members sent me a joint statement where they also all completely ignored important questions regarding ethics and scrutiny.
The following statement was from Jayne Bryant MS (Campaign Co-Chair), Ken Skates MS (Campaign Co-Chair),Vikki Howells MS, Jack Sargeant MS, Hefin David MS, Joyce Watson, MS, Lynne Neagle MS, Dawn Bowden MS, Rebecca Evans MS:
“We are solidly behind Vaughan.
“He has the experience, values, and vision to lead Welsh Labour into a must-win election, and Wales into the future.
“Vaughan has all of our backing, along with the backing of CLPs across Wales, the vast majority of MPs, and the majority of Labour council group leaders. He is also backed by the six biggest trade unions, representing over 100,000 workers in Wales.”
I am sorry to get angry here but can you believe the arrogance? This is the election to choose the man who is going to be running our schools and hospitals. He won’t be elected by the people of Wales to that position but rather by Labour members. The very least they can do is answer perfectly legitimate questions about donations that raise important questions.
For a few days, all Mr Gething’s supporters were silent about the campaign on social media but bit by bit they have started to post their support for him again (while not even mentioning the massive solar elephant in the room/wetlands).
Politicians utterly failing to front up to legitimate questions is what turns people off politics. Imagine how they would howl and rage with indignation if it was the Tories doing this.
One of the reasons they are able to get away with being this unaccountable is because there is little credible opposition. We have discussed in previous newsletters how the next largest party, the Welsh Conservatives, are something of a joke when it comes to policy (you can read that here if you’re new).
However, I would like to bring to your attention a stark contrast to Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies. Here we have another Tory politician (who like Mr Davies is also a farmer) being measured, thoughtful and not stoking division. Sam Kurtz posted this measured video on his Twitter yesterday:
There is absolutely space for a sensible and reasonable party on the centre-right of Welsh politics. Nothing in my view would be better for governance in Cymru than a genuine alternative to Welsh Labour. It would mean that people have to be consistently competent to stay in power, not just consistently wear a red rosette.
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A momentous day - the UK Covid inquiry comes to Wales
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