Calls for investigation into donations received by First Minister Vaughan Gething

Mr Gething has previously defended his decision to accept the donation, saying "all donations are checked and then filed properly with the Electoral Commission and indeed declared to the Senedd." Credit: PA Images

The controversy surrounding donations to Vaughan Gething's leadership campaign has hit the headlines once again, as opposition party leaders have called for an independent investigation.

£200,000 was given to Mr Gething by the director of Dauson Environmental Group Ltd, David Neal, who was convicted twice for environmental offences.

Neal was given a suspended prison sentence in 2013 for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site on the Gwent Levels. His companies Atlantic Recycling and Neal Soil Suppliers were also prosecuted and ordered to pay fines and costs of £202,000.

Speaking to BBC Politics Wales on Sunday, cabinet minister Jeremy Miles MS, said that he "would not have accepted" the donation.

Also revealed over the weekend was the loan that Dauson Environmental Group Ltd had received from the Development Bank of Wales, a bank owned by the Welsh Government.

It has prompted the leader of Plaid Cymru to call for a "wholly independent external investigation" into "unanswered questions" surrounding the donations.

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies MS has similarly called for an "independent advisor to look into this donation".

Jeremy Miles and Vaughan Gething were opponents in the recent leadership election to replace Mark Drakeford as leader of Welsh Labour.

  • "Opposition criticism is one thing, but there is an even bigger problem for Vaughan Gething and that’s opinion within his own party", Political Editor Adrian Masters delves into the ongoing row.

If Vaughan Gething thought the row over donations to his leadership campaign would die down, he will have to think again.

The letter from Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth to the Permanent Secretary calling for an investigation under the ministerial code, pushes the issue into different territory.

The former first minister, Mark Drakeford, previously decided that Vaughan Gething had not breached the Ministerial Code but that was based on his judgement that campaign issues are not covered by the ministerial code.

The Plaid Cymru leader’s action will force the issue. The first minister is in charge of policing the ministerial code but Vaughan Gething will have to decide if he’s comfortable ruling on a case involving himself.

If he does, he will face sustained criticism from opposition MSs; if he doesn’t, he faces the risk of handing over control to Wales’ top civil servant.

What is unsustainable is for him to continue to dismiss opposition calls and to try to use them to attack other parties.

In last week’s First Minister’s Questions he said that he had “been scrupulous in policing the divide between constituency and ministerial interests” - referring to the fact that he has stayed out of any Welsh Government decisions that could affect a constituent - namely the donor, David Neal.

And he said that all Welsh ministers were as scrupulous, adding that “I only wish the same could be said for other administrations within the United Kingdom.”

The problem with this approach is that the questions aren’t just about the letter of the law, though they are certainly about that. They’re also about perception.

£200,000 is a huge amount in the context of Welsh politics. It’s not unreasonable to ask what sort of influence that level of donation could give, formally or informally.

Opposition criticism is one thing, but there is an even bigger problem for Vaughan Gething and that’s opinion within his own party.

Opposition leaders have called for an independent investigation into the donations that Vaughan Gething received during his campaign. Credit: PA Images

A number of Labour MSs have made their feelings clear to their new leader in a private meeting but some, and I don’t know how many, are still angry and concerned that Mr Gething isn’t acknowledging that there are questions for him to answer.

One of the most striking comments in Jeremy Miles’ interview with the BBC’s Politics Wales at the weekend was that he said the questions being asked are “perfectly fair questions.”

For a minister, even one who was Mr Gething’s rival in the recent leadership contest, to say that publicly demonstrates, I think, how much bad feeling there is within the Labour Senedd group.

They’re not at the point of holding a confidence vote in their leader but the fact that that is even being mentioned is hugely significant.

I gather that some feel that there should be an inquiry and also that Labour should not accept any unspent money from the donation, as would normally happen after a leadership contest.

Others within the group are standing by Mr Gething and suggest that disgruntled colleagues should know better than to play into what they see as party politics on behalf of the opposition parties.

There are a number of directions that this row could go in next, but what is clear to me is that Mr Gething’s current determination to tough it out and dismiss opposition concerns as politically-motivated is unsustainable.

Neither can supporters suggest this is a ‘bubble’ issue as Cardiff Council leader Huw Thomas said on S4C's Y Byd yn ei Le last week.

Labour ministers here in Wales and shadow ministers in Westminster have put ‘integrity’ at the heart of the reasons they claim to be different to their Conservative opponents.

They can’t then dismiss questions about their own integrity.