Policy Update: Friday 22nd March, 2024
As some of you may already know, the First Minister for Wales (Mark Drakeford) has stepped out of his position. This week, the Members of the Senedd (MS’) nominated Vaughan Gething as our new First Minister. His name will now go to the King for his approval.
So, what will our new First Minister do when he takes on his role.
1. Firstly, he has appointed a cabinet. This means that there has been a shuffle amongst the current responsibilities of each Minister.
The changes are as follows:
Rebecca Evans MS: Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Julie James MS: Housing, Local Government and Planning
Lesley Griffiths MS: Culture and Social Justice
Ken Skates MS: North Wales and Transport
Jeremy Miles MS: Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Eluned Morgan MS: Health and Social Care
Huw Irranca-Davies MS: Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Lynne Neagle MS: Education
Jane Hutt MS: Chief Whip and Trefnydd
Labour and Plaid Cymru have a co-operation agreement that covers topics such as council tax reform, free school meals etc, but Plaid isn’t best pleased about some of Vaughan Gething's campaign donations (he had received large amounts of money from private donations from someone with a criminal record), so this agreement could end.
2. In his Leadership Manifesto, he committed to a number of initiatives, but for the purpose of this update, we will focus on housing. Vaughan Gething has prioritised building more social housing, with the aim to tackle the housing crisis. He spoke of retrofitting existing housing stock at pace and scale through working with the sector and private finance. He emphasised the importance of tenants’ rights and how he wishes to strengthen these, ridding the ‘no pet’ clause. He also commits to examining rent controls nationally and internationally with the aim to set fair rents for tenants. Finally, he briefly mentions the continuation of support for mortgage holders.
There are many initiatives that our new First Minister has committed to, so I'd encourage you to read the Leadership Manifesto that is linked here - The Welsh Labour Leadership Election Manifesto — Vaughan Gething for Welsh Labour Leader (vaughanforleader.cymru)
We will continue to update you as the political landscape of Wales changes