Firm that bankrolled Vaughan Gething's campaign received £400k in loans of public money

Vaughan Gething is facing further questions over a company that donated £200k to his campaign to be First Minister. It has emerged that the company received huge loans from the Development Bank for Wales, an arms-length public body used by the Welsh Government to support businesses.

The loans were given to Neal Soil Suppliers, part of the Dauson Environmental Group empire run by Cardiff businessman David Neal which funded Mr Gething's campaign. Most recently the Cardiff-based development bank gave Neal Soil Suppliers a £400,000 loan in February 2023 to fund the purchase of a solar farm.

Paperwork filed at Companies House show Neal Soil Suppliers has received loans from the bank and its predecessor Finance Wales several times in the last 10 years. The paperwork shows the organisations registered charges over the assets of Neal Soil Suppliers in December 2013, July 2015, July 2020 and February 2023. The Development Bank of Wales fell under Mr Gething's remit as economy minister during his time in the post from May 2021 to March 2024 and when the most recent £400,000 loan was made.

Former secretary of state for Wales and chair of the Welsh affairs committee in Westminster Stephen Crabb said that the First Minister "needs to step forward and state whether he knew about the Development Bank loan to Dauson Group and, if so, why he felt able to accept the donation to his campaign".

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The Cardiff South and Penarth MS took two £100,000 donations from Cardiff-based environmental firm Dauson Environmental Group to help him in his battle with rival Jeremy Miles to become the next Welsh Labour leader and replace Mark Drakeford as First Minister.

The donation has been controversial because it is “eye-wateringly large” and because the company is run by a man who was prosecuted for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site. Andrew Neal is a director of both Dauson Environmental Group and companies called Atlantic Recycling and Neal Soil Suppliers which was prosecuted in 2013 for illegally dumping waste on the Gwent Levels and again four years later for not cleaning up the mess. Mr Neal was also personally fined and given a three-month suspended sentence.

Documents first obtained by the BBC and seen by WalesOnline show that Mr Gething has repeatedly lobbied Natural Resources Wales, who brought the action against the company, to look more favourably on the firm. Mr Gething has said that he was doing his job as a constituency MS and helping a company that provides dozens of jobs.

Walesonline also revealed that on the same day the company made a donation to Mr Gething they also applied to build a large solar farm outside of Cardiff which would require the approval of Mr Gething's Government.

Welsh Tory shadow minister for the economy Samuel Kurtz has written to his opposite number Jeremy Miles (who lost against Mr Gething in the leadership race) questioning the loans from the DBW. He wrote: "Given that the Welsh Government owns 100% of the shares of DBW, this calls into question the independence of their financing decisions, the use of public funds and the influence of the then economy ninister.

"If the companies associated with David Neal needed to borrow £400,000, how were they then in a position to donate £200,000 to Vaughan Gething MS, who was the Minister responsible for the Development Bank of Wales, at the time?"

When contacted for comment the Welsh Government would only say: "Welsh ministers do not take any decisions on individual investments provided by DBW."

A spokesperson for the development bank said: “In February 2023, the Development Bank of Wales agreed a loan to Neal Soil Suppliers Ltd for £400,000 which funded the purchase of a solar farm. The loan is on track to repay over 5 years and is supported by security from the company itself and debentures from other companies in the same group, Dauson Environmental and Atlantic Recycling.

"The Development Bank of Wales provides commercial loans and equity investments to small businesses based in Wales. Lending and investment decisions taken by the Development Bank are wholly independent of the Welsh Government.”

In a statement to WalesOnline a spokesman for Dauson Enviromental Group said: "As a growing Welsh business, Dauson Environmental Group is committed to investing in the operation and development of all our sites, as well as in the Welsh supply chain. This includes working with the Development Bank of Wales to support this economic growth.

"We can reassure you that none of the loan received contributed to the donations made by Dauson Environmental Group."

When asked why they made the donation to Mr Gething, director of Dauson Environmental Group, David Neal, 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. We want to see the economy, communities, and environment continue to prosper in Wales, and we have supported Vaughan Gething’s campaign as we feel he is the best person for the job.

“Dauson Environmental Group has not engaged with Vaughan Gething or his ministerial department about any planning applications and we would not expect him to have any involvement.”

Another one of Mr Neal's companies, Resources Management UK Ltd, recently faced action by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) after complaints about the smell at Withyhedge Landfill in Pembrokeshire. Residents dubbed it a "a stink bomb on steroids".

Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb told WalesOnline: “In a Welsh context, a £200,000 donation to a single politician is unheard of. It just doesn’t happen. The fact that the company that made the donation is so heavily engaged in activities regulated by Welsh Government raises questions in itself, but the revelation now that it was also the beneficiary of a Development Bank of Wales loan of £400,000 is extraordinary.

“People living close to the RML landfill site in mid Pembrokeshire are outraged at how this group of companies, all owned by David Neal, has been able to destroy their quality of life with seemingly so little oversight and enforcement by Natural Resources Wales. The stench affecting the community is appalling and the enormous convoys of Atlantic Recycling lorries, owned by the same individual, that come through their villages each day is unacceptable. The question everyone is asking is how on earth this business was allowed to grow so quickly.

“The First Minister needs to step forward and state whether he knew about the Development Bank loan to Dauson Group and, if so, why he felt able to accept the donation to his campaign. He was Economy Minister at the time and the Development Bank came under his portfolio. It is in the public interest to know the exact size of the loan, what was the stated purpose of the loan application, and why a company that was so reliant on a Welsh Government-owned bank loan was in a position to donate money to Vaughan Gething’s political campaign.

“Meanwhile, my constituents just want their quality of life back. The landfill site cannot be allowed to continue operating in the way it does. Pembrokeshire has been turned into a dumping ground for waste from across South Wales on the back of the contracts secured by this company.”

Plaid Cymru has called on the First Minister Vaughan Gething to make an urgent statement on the floor of the Senedd after accounts show the companies that bankrolled his Welsh Labour leadership campaign owe £400,000 to a bank wholly owned by the Welsh Government.

A Plaid spokesperson said that it was an “astonishing state of affairs that is undermining Welsh democracy”.

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: "Questions around transparency and proprietary just keep piling up for the First Minister. As more information comes to light, the more the people of Wales will be astounded that Vaughan Gething showed such serious lack of judgment. He is seemingly being bankrolled by a man in debt to his own government – an astonishing state of affairs that is undermining Welsh democracy. The First Minister must make an urgent statement on the floor of the Senedd next week."