Labour politician offered to give Vaughan Gething £200,000 to pay back campaign donation but he refused

Vaughan Gething was offered £200,000 by a Labour Senedd Member to repay a campaign donation from a businessman convicted of environmental offences. But Mr Gething turned it down.

WalesOnline understands that Labour backbench MS for Cardiff Central Jenny Rathbone offered Mr Gething the money to resolve the controversy over the donations he received during the Welsh Labour leadership race from companies run by David Neal. Ms Rathbone was not available for comment.

The issue was raised in First Minister's Questions on Tuesday by Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth. Mr ap Iorwerth said: "Such is the level of concern that it was reported yesterday that a senior figure within the Labour Party offered to loan the First Minister £200,000 so he could pay the donation back. Given that some contrition might have actually shown he understood public anger, why on earth did the First Minister reject that offer?"

To that, the First Minister replied: "As I have made clear before, I don't have £200,000 to pay anybody back. I'm not sure if the member has access to that ready cash; I certainly don't."

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On Wednesday, June 5, Mr Gething will face a no confidence vote in the Senedd. Plaid, the Conservatives, sole Lib Dem Jane Dodds and independent Rhys ab Owen will all vote to say they have no confidence in Mr Gething, if any of his Labour colleagues are missing, abstain or vote against him, Mr Gething will lose.

Mr Gething continued to tell Senedd colleagues. "Having followed the rules for donations and having followed the ministerial code as well, and I understand the member wants to make an alternative case that, regardless of not breaking rules, I should nevertheless suffer the ultimate price in political terms and I say to the member, the idea that votes of no confidence are not commonplace is just not borne out by any cursory examination of the record.

"There have been three votes of no confidence within this Senedd term. Every health minister has faced a vote of no confidence at some point in time. So, this is part and parcel of what happens. I look forward to responding to the debate tomorrow and setting out what this Government has done, what we continue to do: the ceaseless, never-ending commitment to improve our country, the reason why the vote on 4 July matters to this place and the people that we serve."

There has only ever been one vote of no confidence against a leader of the Welsh Government. Then First Secretary Alun Michael stood down before the vote, which he lost.

On Tuesday, June 4, Mr Gething's government's choice to delay plans to reform the school term dates was criticised by Mark Drakeford. The former First Minister told the Welsh education minister it would impact the lives of the most vulnerable children in Wales.