Saturday, May 04, 2024
Labour start to break cover on Gething donation
The BBC reports that a former Welsh government minister has told the Senedd that Vaughan Gething should hand back £200,000 taken from a company owned by a man prosecuted for illegally dumping waste.
The broadcaster says that former Transport Minister, Lee Waters has questioned the judgement of the first minister for accepting the donation during the Welsh Labour leadership campaign, from Dauson Environment Group, saying that he was “deeply uncomfortable” with the situation and that it was "shocking" to find where the money had come from:
The former transport minister, who was the public face of the 20mph speed limit policy until he left government in March, made the comments in one of two debates forced by the opposition on the issue.
Labour MSs successfully voted down Tory calls for an independent investigation into the donations, as well as a Plaid Cymru motion for the Senedd to look at a cap on numbers.
Welsh Conservative and Plaid Cymru Senedd members criticised Mr Gething for failing to take part in the discussions.
Mr Gething was absent for most of the proceedings, arriving midway through the second debate called by Plaid Cymru.
Mr Waters had supported Vaughan Gething's rival Jeremy Miles and was one of the few Labour politicians who spoke on the record about the donations during the campaign.
Mr Waters said he had been "struggling to process my feelings" about the issue and he would have rather avoided making the speech.
He said he had not changed his initial view that the donation was "unjustifiable and wrong".
It really "shocked" him that it came from a firm with a conviction for damaging the Gwent Levels, a site of special scientific interest, "at a time that some of us were fighting hard to protect this area".
Mr Gething has said that he has followed the rules over political donations.
"But the issue is not whether the paperwork was correct, it’s whether the judgement was correct," said Mr Waters.
He said 25 years ago "we talked of devolution as the beginning of a new politics; but the reputation of politics, and politicians, seems to be lower than ever".
"The first minister told a Senedd committee last week that his approval ratings haven’t been affected by the controversy. I must say that surprised me, and troubled me."
"Whether the polls bear that out or not, it really isn’t the point. Surely the question isn’t what any of us can get away with, it’s what is right?"
"I’m deeply uncomfortable with the way I am now, in effect, being expected to endorse something I think is just wrong.
"I haven’t spoken out since the donation came to light ten weeks ago. I wanted to give time for the issue to be addressed. But it hasn’t been."
Mr Gething has faced claims that he had broken the code of conduct for ministers, which requires ministers not to accept any gift which might, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgement or place them under an improper obligation.
Mr Waters said that ministerial code is not a "legal contract" or a "test to find a loophole"
"It's a code of ethics," he said.
Calling on Mr Gething to do the "right thing," he added: "It would not be a sign of weakness to say it was a mistake to take the donation and now all the facts are known to give it back."
This is damning stuff, and more so when considering that it is being said openly by a Labour MS. But will Gething listen?
The broadcaster says that former Transport Minister, Lee Waters has questioned the judgement of the first minister for accepting the donation during the Welsh Labour leadership campaign, from Dauson Environment Group, saying that he was “deeply uncomfortable” with the situation and that it was "shocking" to find where the money had come from:
The former transport minister, who was the public face of the 20mph speed limit policy until he left government in March, made the comments in one of two debates forced by the opposition on the issue.
Labour MSs successfully voted down Tory calls for an independent investigation into the donations, as well as a Plaid Cymru motion for the Senedd to look at a cap on numbers.
Welsh Conservative and Plaid Cymru Senedd members criticised Mr Gething for failing to take part in the discussions.
Mr Gething was absent for most of the proceedings, arriving midway through the second debate called by Plaid Cymru.
Mr Waters had supported Vaughan Gething's rival Jeremy Miles and was one of the few Labour politicians who spoke on the record about the donations during the campaign.
Mr Waters said he had been "struggling to process my feelings" about the issue and he would have rather avoided making the speech.
He said he had not changed his initial view that the donation was "unjustifiable and wrong".
It really "shocked" him that it came from a firm with a conviction for damaging the Gwent Levels, a site of special scientific interest, "at a time that some of us were fighting hard to protect this area".
Mr Gething has said that he has followed the rules over political donations.
"But the issue is not whether the paperwork was correct, it’s whether the judgement was correct," said Mr Waters.
He said 25 years ago "we talked of devolution as the beginning of a new politics; but the reputation of politics, and politicians, seems to be lower than ever".
"The first minister told a Senedd committee last week that his approval ratings haven’t been affected by the controversy. I must say that surprised me, and troubled me."
"Whether the polls bear that out or not, it really isn’t the point. Surely the question isn’t what any of us can get away with, it’s what is right?"
"I’m deeply uncomfortable with the way I am now, in effect, being expected to endorse something I think is just wrong.
"I haven’t spoken out since the donation came to light ten weeks ago. I wanted to give time for the issue to be addressed. But it hasn’t been."
Mr Gething has faced claims that he had broken the code of conduct for ministers, which requires ministers not to accept any gift which might, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgement or place them under an improper obligation.
Mr Waters said that ministerial code is not a "legal contract" or a "test to find a loophole"
"It's a code of ethics," he said.
Calling on Mr Gething to do the "right thing," he added: "It would not be a sign of weakness to say it was a mistake to take the donation and now all the facts are known to give it back."
This is damning stuff, and more so when considering that it is being said openly by a Labour MS. But will Gething listen?
