Plaid Cymru abruptly ends Welsh Labour government co-operation deal over new leader Vaughan Gething's donation

Plaid Cymru has abruptly ended its co-operation agreement with the Welsh Labour government citing concerns over controversial donations to new First Minister Vaughan Gething.

Nationalist leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said he thought Gething’s receipt of £200,000 from a company convicted of environmental offences during his leadership campaign “demonstrates a significant lack of judgment”. Ap Iorweth also said he was worried about the First Minister’s decision to sack his minister for social partnership, Hannah Blythyn, following the leak of a phone message to the media which she insisted she was not behind.

The agreement, under which Plaid voted with Labour on a series of policy areas to ensure a majority in the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, was originally due to last until December. It was established following the 2021 Senedd elections, in which Labour gained 30 out of the 60 seats, one below a majority.

The Plaid leader said: “I remain deeply concerned that the First Minister has failed to pay back the £200,000 donation to his leadership campaign from a company convicted of environmental offences, and believe it demonstrates a significant lack of judgment. Money left over has now been passed on to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.”

He added: “I am worried by the circumstances around the decision to sack a member of the Government this week relating to matters that should be in the public domain already.” It comes just days after the power-sharing agreement in Scotland collapsed leading to the demise of Humza Yousaf.

Gething said: “The co-operation agreement was about mature politics, working together on areas where we agree. While it was always a time-limited agreement, we are disappointed Plaid Cymru has decided to walk away from their opportunity to deliver for the people of Wales.” The First Minister thanked Sian Gwenllian and Cefin Campbell, Plaid’s two designated members for the agreement.

“By working together we have achieved a great deal, including free school meals for all pupils in primary schools, providing more free childcare, introducing a radical package of measures to create thriving local communities, helping people to live locally and addressing high numbers of second homes in many areas of Wales,” he said. “We will now look closely at how we can progress the outstanding co-operation agreement commitments, including the Welsh Language Education Bill and the White Paper on Right to Adequate Housing and Fair Rents.”

On Thursday, the First Minister said he had “no alternative” but to ask Blythyn, Labour MS for Delyn, to leave his government. She insisted she was “clear and have been clear that I did not, nor have I ever leaked anything” and was “deeply shocked” at her dismissal.

It followed news reports which featured a message posted to a ministerial group chat in August 2020 by Gething, stating that he was “deleting the messages in this group”. Gething previously told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that lost WhatsApp messages were not deleted by him, but by the Welsh Parliament’s IT team during a security rebuild.

The Welsh Labour leader has come under sustained pressure in recent weeks, with repeated calls for an investigation into donations he received while running to be Welsh Labour leader. Earlier this month, he survived a Senedd vote calling for an independent inquiry into the £200,000 donation he took from a man convicted of environmental offences. On Thursday, the BBC reported that more than £31,600 from Gething’s leadership campaign would go to the Labour Party.

Additional reporting from PA.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.