FM must return shocking donation, says ex-minister

Vaughan Gething should hand back £200,000 taken from a company owned by a man prosecuted for illegally dumping waste, a former Welsh government minister has told the Senedd.

Lee Waters questioned the judgement of the first minister for accepting the donation, during the Welsh Labour leadership campaign, from Dauson Environment Group.

He said he was “deeply uncomfortable” with the situation and that it was "shocking" to find where the money had come from.

A Welsh government minister, Jane Hutt, said “all relevant rules have been complied with”.

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."

Mr Waters' was supported by his party colleague Alun Davies, who called a "test of a fit and proper person from whom donations may be accepted".

He later said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "many Labour members agree with Lee".

In the Conservative debate calling for an independent probe, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “There is no rule breaking, but the perception of such substantial monies coming into a campaign to lead the country of Wales as first minister has caused considerable public disquiet, as well as considerable political disquiet amongst the Labour Party and other political parties.”

He said the £200,000 could "reasonably be seen as securing influence".

Plaid Cymru focused on introducing a cap on the size of donations.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru leader, said: “This episode reflects terribly, I’m afraid, on the first minister himself and his judgement.

“But we can take a stand here today to defend the integrity of our democracy as a whole.”

Hefin David, Labour MS for Caerphilly who supported Mr Gething in the leadership campaign, played the issue down.

He was heckled when he told the Senedd the "more you dig" on the donations, "the less you find".

“All of the evidence that we've talked about has been addressed. What are we now trying to investigate?"

“Andrew RT Davies says in the Western Mail article that he wants to move on.

“If he wants to move on, he can start asking questions about the things we care about: the cost of living, children in care; these are the kind of things he could start asking about at first minister's questions instead of just going on about this non-issue.”

Mr Gething did not respond to either debates, and was not present for the first Conservative session.

With the first minister sat beside her Jane Hutt, Welsh government chief whip and business minister, said: "The first minister has repeatedly set out all the relevant rules have been complied with and it's been that's been acknowledged again, this afternoon."

"The Welsh government's propriety and ethics team has considered and responded to questions raised by members and a clear that no wrongdoing has taken place.

"The first minister will recuse himself from any involvement that presents any conflict of interest in the normal way."

She was asked by Plaid Cymru MS Mabon ap Gwynfor if she would have taken the money herself but she did not answer the question.

Earlier the Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had called for an independent investigation.

Meanwhile Mr Gething's former leadership rival Jeremy Miles has asked the Welsh government-owned bank Development Bank of Wales to reflect on its due diligence, amid controversy over a £400,000 loan to a Dauson subsidiary.

Dauson Environmental Group is a Welsh company with refuse and recycling businesses.

It is owned by David John Neal, who was given a suspended sentence in 2013 for illegally dumping waste and one in 2017 for not clearing it up.

One of Dauson Environmental Group's businesses is a landfill site in Pembrokeshire which is the subject of an ongoing row about its smell.

On Tuesday Natural Resources Wales said there were "several serious permit breaches" and "poor management" at Withyhedge in Pembrokeshire.

Mr Neal, who is a director of Dauson, said:: “As a Welsh company, the Dauson Environmental Group has a wide number of operations and assets and is committed to investing in the future of Wales, as well as the Welsh supply chain.

“We supported Vaughan Gething’s campaign as we felt that he was the best person for the job.

“Dauson Environmental Group has not engaged with Vaughan Gething or his ministerial department regarding any of our business plans or applications and would not expect him to have any involvement in these decisions anyway.”