First Minister dodges MS’s donation row question
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford has dodged the question of whether Economy Minister Vaughan Gething should return a controversial £200,000 donation.
Cardiff-based environmental firm Dauson Environmental Group donated £200,000 to Mr Gething’s campaign to be the next First Minister, £100,000 of which came at the same time they submitted an application to build a huge solar farm on the edge of Cardiff which the Welsh Government will be responsible for approving or rejecting.
The donation was already controversial because it is “eye-wateringly large” and because the company, which needs Welsh Government approval to build the solar farm on the Gwent Levels, is run by a man who was prosecuted for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site.
Mr Drakeford, who Mr Gething is running against Education Minister Jeremy Miles to replace, was asked about the donation by Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth during First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd.
He said: “The First Minister says that he is satisfied that there hasn’t been a breach of the ministerial code, but what does he think is the way to gauge whether his colleague showed good judgment here, and would returning the donation be a good start?”
Mr Drakeford replied: “Well, that would be a matter for the electorate in the election for a successor as leader of the Welsh Labour Party. There are thousands and thousands of people able to take part in that debate. They will have heard the debate; they will make their minds up. That is the way in which this matter is best resolved.”