Senedd to sit in August to vote in new first minister

The Senedd will return from its summer break on 6 August to confirm Eluned Morgan as the new first minister of Wales.

The new Welsh Labour leader has to be installed via a roll call vote of Members of the Senedd (MSs) before she takes up her job.

Many MSs are on holiday and arrangements are being made to allow politicians to take part from abroad.

The health secretary, who was elected leader unopposed on Wednesday, is the first woman to become first minister.

She will succeed Vaughan Gething, who was forced out of his job last week after four senior members of his government all quit.

His time in office has been dogged by controversy over campaign donations and the sacking of a minister.

In a press statement the parliament said the meeting would be at 11:00 BST and would be “hybrid” with members able to attend in person or via Zoom.

The Welsh Conservatives questioned why the recall could not have happened “straight away”.

It is the first time the Senedd has been recalled for a vote to confirm a new first minister, and follows a formal request from Mr Gething to the Senedd for it to go ahead.

Original plans for him to stay on until September and have a final first minister’s questions in the Senedd before resigning, were abandoned after it became clear that Ms Morgan was the only candidate to replace him.

Ms Morgan, 57, has been MS for Mid and West Wales since 2016.

The Cardiff-born health secretary was put in charge of the NHS after the last election by former first minister Mark Drakeford.

She has had a long career in politics, having been first elected in 1994 as the youngest member of the European Parliament, aged 27.

Also known as Baroness Morgan of Ely, she is also a life peer who is on a leave of absence from the upper house of the UK Parliament.

Andrew RT Davies, Welsh Conservative Senedd leader, said: “Considering the chaos that has engulfed the Labour government in Cardiff Bay you would have thought they would have brought this decision forward by bringing in an earlier recall to give Wales that stability.

“Given that Eluned Morgan’s delivery as health minister was questionable, you would have also thought that she would want to get going straight away by being elected by the Senedd as first minister.”

Unlike other votes in the Senedd, nominating a first minister usually requires that MSs say their name out loud.

The vote is triggered when more than one nominee is put forward.

The Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru are expected to put forward their own leaders – both groups are outnumbered by Labour’s 30 MSs.

Each politician will be called by the presiding officer alphabetically, starting with Rhys ab Owen and ending with Sioned Williams.

All members present take part, including the person who is being nominated who will have to say their own name.

Usually it is not permitted for MSs to vote from abroad, but an exception is being made for the circumstances of a first minister quitting at the height of summer.

Jane Dodds, Welsh Liberal Democrat, is expected to abstain.

Members of the Welsh Labour group met on the evening of the leadership result.

Buffy Williams, MS for Rhondda, issued a statement saying that members of the 30 strong group wanted to “move on from recent events.”

Labour has been beset by rows since Mr Gething became leader, mostly over £200,000 in campaign donations he took from a man previously convicted of environmental offences.

They were exacerbated after Mr Gething sacked a minister for allegedly leaking text messages to the press.

Hannah Blythyn, MS for Delyn, denied she had done so.

Ms Morgan has promised to unify the group making Huw Irranca-Davies, a supporter of a previous opponent of Mr Gething, her deputy.

Ms Williams added: “Over the summer, we will be listening to residents across our constituencies and across our regions, to get a real feel for our communities’ priorities beyond what, at times, has looked like a distracting Senedd bubble.”