Fresh woe for Keir Starmer just weeks before General Election as Welsh Labour leader pal loses confidence vote

THE Welsh First Minister has been slapped with a humiliating defeat in a no confidence vote that could spark fresh woes for Sir Keir Starmer.

The motion – triggered by the Welsh Tories – is not binding, meaning Vaughan Gething won’t be forced to stand down.

Last night, he vowed to carry on, telling broadcasters he is “proud to be the First Minister of Wales to serve and lead my country”.

But the defeat is hugely damaging as it comes after the collapse of the co-operation deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru and a series of rows involving Mr Gething.

With a General Election just weeks away, it is also a huge blow for the Labour chief, who has repeatedly defended the Welsh leader.

Last week, he said he looked forward to a “new partnership” with the Welsh First Minister as the two both attended a campaign rally in Abergavenny.

Mr Gething, who has only been the Welsh Labour leader since March, faced the no-confidence vote after being plagued by scandal during his short time in office.

Concerns were raised after Mr Gething accepted a donation from a man convicted of environmental offences during his run to be Welsh Labour leader.

He lost the vote on his leadership in the Senedd with 29 votes against him to 27 for.

The First Minister was visibly emotional and could be seen wiping tears from his eyes as the motion was debated.

Two members of his group did not attend the vote, with Vikki Howell, the chairwoman of the Welsh Labour group, having said they were “unwell”.

Mr Gething told the Senedd it “hurts deeply” when his intentions are questioned and insisted he has never made a decision as a minister for personal or financial gain.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir accused Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives of “game playing”.

Mr Gething has also been tight-lipped about why he gave Senedd member Hannah Blythyn the boot his government after accusing her of leaking messages to the media.

His decision came after a report on the Nation.Cymru news website which featured a message posted to a ministerial group chat in August 2020 by Mr Gething, stating that he was “deleting the messages in this group”.

But 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.

He 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.

Mr Gething has always insisted that all rules were followed when he took the donation and 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”.

Sir Keir once described the Welsh Labour government as his blueprint but he declined the chance to repeat the claim last autumn.