Cabinet set to be equal

THE man who is expected to be the next First Minister of Wales has said he plans to have a 50-50 gender split in his new cabinet.

Mark Drakeford is set to take up the role that Carwyn Jones has held for nine years on Wednesday.

AMs will be invited to nominate him in the Senedd when the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru will also put their leaders forward, but Mr Drakeford is expected to win.

The new Labour leader appeared on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Wales after winning the leadership contest against Vaughan Gething and Eluned Morgan.

One of his manifesto pledges was to have a balance of men and women in his cabinet.

Now it seems that’s set to happen.

Currently, three of the nine cabinet positions are held by women – Julie James AM, Kirsty Williams AM and Lesley Griffiths AM.

AMs Hannah Blythyn, Rebecca Evans and Eluned Morgan are ministers.

“Assuming that I am First Minister – there’s a vote to win on the floor of the Assembly and that’s what this week will be about – then if I am in a position to form a cabinet, and I said in my manifesto, I fully intent to deliver a gender-balance cabinet at the Welsh Government,” he said.

Mr Drakeford also talked about his plans to tackle child poverty and increasing the number of AMs in the National Assembly.

He added he was looking to have a “more collective form of leadership at the Welsh Government”.

“As we enter into the third decade of devolution, it’s very important that people in Wales have a better understanding of the fact there’s a whole group of people who make these important decisions on their behalf and that they understand that the Government is not a one-person band,” he said.