Wales' economy secretary Jeremy Miles refuses to say if he backs First Minister Vaughan Gething
Wales' economy secretary Jeremy Miles speaks with ITV Cymru Wales reporter Siôn Jenkins.
Wales' economy secretary Jeremy Miles has refused to publicly back First Minister Vaughan Gething in an ITV Cymru Wales interview.
Mr Miles was the FM's opponent in this year's Welsh Labour leadership contest, and was appointed economy secretary in Mr Gething's new Welsh Government cabinet following the leadership race.
Pressure has mounted on Mr Gething in recent weeks over his decision to sack former minister Hannah Blythyn from his cabinet over messages which were leaked to the media.
Ms Blythyn denies being the source of the leak, while Mr Gething told a scrutiny committee last week that he had not claimed she was the direct source, but said her device was.
Speaking to the media while setting out the Welsh Government’s long-term plans for a greener, more sustainable energy supply and decarbonisation, Jeremy Miles - Wales' cabinet secretary for the economy, energy and the Welsh language - declined on four occasions to say whether he had complete faith in his boss.
He said: "I'm not going to give a running commentary on what we've seen in the press. It's obviously been a very difficult number of weeks. I don't think it's helpful to give a running commentary.
"It's been a difficult few weeks, it's been difficult for the first minister as it has been for everybody else and he'll be looking at how we get through this as we all are.
"I'm here today to focus on the work that ministers are doing in all parts of the government, which is focusing on delivering for the people of Wales."
Asked whether he himself believed Ms Blythyn, Mr Miles said: "I'm not going to get into particular comments, there's been a statement in the Senedd, we've seen the response from Nation.Cymru, the government is willing to look at all of that in how it responds and there is a motion in the Senedd this week."
Meanwhile, Caerphilly MS Hefin David has said the first minister retains the support of the Labour group in the Senedd.
He told the BBC at the weekend: "First of all, Hannah continues to feel a full and welcome part of the Labour group, which is really important. And that's my ambition is to see her continue to play the full role. She can. She's a good friend.
"The second is I think with the Conservatives motion on Wednesday calling for the release of the evidence - I think that evidence [over her sacking as a minister] should be released but done in a way that is sensitive, that all participants have a say in that release, and it's put into context as well.
"And thirdly, I think we need to get on to things like tackling the cost of living crisis, the health service, now we've got a Labour government in Westminster. It's time to take the opportunity now to work with them to solve the problems that we haven't been able to solve while the Conservatives controlled the UK Treasury."
It comes after Mr Gething told a scrutiny meeting on Friday that leaked messages to the media came from former social partnership minister Ms Blythyn’s phone but said he has “never tried to claim” she was the direct source.
In a heated exchange at the Senedd’s Scrutiny Committee Vaughan Gething, the Welsh Labour government leader defended his decision to sack the former minister, insisting that evidence showed messages given to Nation.Cymru came from her phone.
However, he insisted he has never tried to claim Ms Blythyn directly contacted the media herself.
Ms Blythyn was removed from the Welsh Government in May, after messages from the Covid pandemic were leaked to the website Nation.Cymru.
The leaked messages showed Mr Gething claiming he would delete all correspondence from an iMessage group of Welsh ministers.
Delyn MS Ms Blythyn said last week in the Senedd that she could “look all my colleagues who sit on these benches in the eye” and say she had not leaked to the media.
Speaking at the scrutiny committee meeting held at the Parc y Scarlets rugby stadium in Llanelli on Friday, the first minister said: “When it comes to the evidence, there’s no inconsistency in what I said.
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“I never tried to claim that Hannah Blythyn directly contacted Nation Cymru.
“I’m very clear the evidence I had confirmed that a photograph of her phone was provided to Nation Cymru.
“Ministers are responsible for their own data.”
Mr Gething said the photograph being given to a journalist in May “directly affects trust within the government”.
The first minister has come under sustained attack in recent months for his decision to sack Ms Blythyn, and over a series of rows concerning donations he took while running to be Welsh Labour leader.
This led to the collapse of a co-operation agreement between his party and Plaid Cymru and he subsequently lost a non-binding vote of no confidence in the Senedd.
Mr Gething's decision to sack Ms Blythyn followed reporting by Nation.Cymru which featured a message posted to a ministerial group chat in August 2020 by Mr Gething, saying that he was “deleting the messages in this group”.
He said the leaked message was from a section of an iMessage group chat with other Labour ministers and related to internal discussions within the Senedd Labour group.
Mr Gething previously told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that lost WhatsApp messages were not deleted by him, but by the Welsh Parliament’s IT team during a security rebuild.
He denied the leaked message contradicted the evidence he had given to the inquiry, adding that it did not relate to pandemic decision-making but “comments that colleagues make to and about each other”.
The first minister faces a fresh crunch vote this week, as the Welsh Conservatives have tabled a motion in the hopes of compelling him to publish the evidence he used to sack Ms Blythyn.
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