Next first minister of Wales to be revealed

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Which of the two men running to be the next first minister of Wales has won the race is set to be revealed today.

Jeremy Miles, the current minister for education and Welsh language, and Vaughan Gething, the minister for the economy, have been competing to see who will lead Welsh Labour and the country.

Which of the two has succeeded will be announced on Saturday morning.

The pair are bidding to replace Mark Drakeford, who has been First Minister since 2018 and announced his intention to resign late last year.

Whoever succeeds will be the country’s fifth leader since the National Assembly for Wales, now called the Senedd, was established in 1999.

Mr Drakeford will not stand down immediately, with his final first minister’s questions on March 19.

A vote will also need to take place in the Senedd at which opposition groups can put forward their own candidates.

With Labour the largest party, it is unlikely that any other group would take the role.

Only Labour members or those who are part of an affiliated organisation, such as a trade union, were able to participate in the leadership vote – meaning about 100,000 people were able to take part.

Mr Gething had the backing of most of the large unions and Lord Kinnock, who led the UK party from 1983 to 1992.

Mr Miles saw support from the majority of the Labour members of the Senedd.

The leadership race has not been without controversy, most of which has centred on Mr Gething.

There have been a string of concerns raised around £200,000 of donations to Mr Gething from a company that was found guilty of environmental offences in January.

Atlantic Recycling, which is part of Dauson Environmental Group and controlled by David Neal, gave Mr Gething £100,000 on December 18 2023 and £100,000 on January 11 2024.

Atlantic Recycling was also fined £300,000 in February after it pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety at work rules following the death of one of its workers.

Earlier this week, the BBC revealed that Mr Gething had lobbied regulators in favour of the company, asking Natural Resources Wales to ease restrictions on Atlantic Recycling in 2016.

Mr Gething and his team have always insisted the donation was declared in line with Senedd and Electoral Commission rules and that the minister is committed to transparency.