First Minister hopefuls in battle to get support
POTENTIAL rivals to Mark Drakeford in the contest to succeed Carwyn Jones as Welsh Labour leader are struggling to secure enough support to stand, according to a highly placed party source.
Mr Drakeford, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, is so far the only AM to confirm that he will be a candidate in the leadership election, which is due to be launched formally in September.
While a number of others have said they are considering standing, none of them have said they will definitely do so.
Politicians whose names have been mentioned as possible candidates include Health Secretary Vaughan Gething, Economy Secretary Ken Skates, Counsel General Jeremy Miles, Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning Minister Eluned Morgan, Children and Social Care Minister Huw Irranca-Davies and Environment Minister Hannah Blythyn.
To get on to the ballot paper, candidates need to be nominated by at least five of the 29 Labour AMs. They cannot nominate themselves.
Mr Drakeford’s candidacy is supported by Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw, Newport East AM John Griffiths, Swansea East AM Mike Hedges, Vale of Glamorgan AM Jane Hutt, Cardiff North AM Julie Morgan, Swansea West AM Julie James, Islwyn AM Rhianon Passmore and Cardiff Central AM Jenny Rathbone. It is thought likely that others will add their names in time.
None of the other potential candidates is understood to have secured the support of five AMs.
A senior Welsh Labour source told us: “Vaughan Gething has the support of [Caerphilly AM] Hefin David and Torfaen AM Lynne Neagle, Jeremy Miles has the backing of [Llanelli AM] Lee Waters, while Eluned Morgan, Huw Irranca-Davies and Hannah Blythyn have not secured the support of other members of the Labour group.
“It’s now thought unlikely that Ken Skates will seek to stand after all.”
The source said that when Mr David tweeted a message of support for Mr Gething, it had been thought that others might follow suit. In fact, none did so.
A number of the potential candidates have spoken about the need to have a debate within the party over the summer, with individuals setting out their ideas for the future.
But the source said: “In these circumstances, where Carwyn is a lame duck First Minister who has said he is going, we should think seriously about bringing the election forward to before the summer recess. We shouldn’t waste time before electing a new leader who can unite the party and the government.”
On June 9 Labour’s Welsh Executive Committee (WEC) will meet to confirm arrangements for the leadership election. As things stand, the contest is due to be run according to an electoral college system that has been widely criticised as undemocratic. The votes of grassroots party members are only worth one third of the total, with a further third made up of the votes of MPs, AMs and an MEP, and the rest going to trade unions and other organisations affiliated to the Labour Party.
Supporters of the principle of “one member, one vote” (OMOV) want the WEC to end the electoral college, which has already been ditched for UK Labour and Scottish Labour leadership elections.
They point out that under the electoral college, the vote of an MP or an AM is worth almost 400 times the vote of an ordinary party member.