The view of Laura Mcallister, professor at Cardiff University
THERE’S been no time for Welsh Labour to bask in the glory of an outstanding Senedd election result. The ‘new’ First Minister had to get straight down to business. His newly appointed cabinet for the sixth Senedd term offers a fair degree of freshness, indicating how energised Mark Drakeford must feel after such a personal success. That it is two-thirds female is impressive by any comparative international standards. Still, that doesn’t mean it is automatically a ‘feminist government’, only a female-dominated one for now. The former label will need to be earned over the full Senedd term.
It was encouraging to see the creation of the powerful new climate change ministry merging environment, energy, housing, planning and transport and led by the eminently capable pair of Julie James and Lee Waters. They’ll need to be sure this ministry doesn’t promise more than it can deliver though.
There are two new deputy ministers, Lynne Neagle and Dawn Bowden, the latter at the so-called Ministry of Fun, although I’m not sure sports and the arts feel they live up to that label at the moment, ravaged as they have been by Covid.
The big political talking point is the three likely contenders to take over the mantle of Welsh Labour leader and First Minister once Mark Drakeford steps down at some point during this term. It’s all about platform and visibility as the past 14 months have vividly shown. The big hitters have all moved to different portfolios. Vaughan Gething, after an unbelievably tough five years at health, moves on to economy with a heavy focus on post-pandemic rebuild. This is a double-edged sword, given the downbeat forecasts for future Welsh budgets from my Wales Governance colleagues but there’s plenty of praise and positivity to be garnered in this portfolio too.
Jeremy Miles was surely itching for a fresh role after his (mostly futile) striving for a Welsh voice in the Brexit negotiations and then against the UK Internal Market bill obstinacy of Westminster. So onwards to education. Dealing with PISA rankings and the teaching unions is never easy but there are plenty of positives here too, especially with a brand new curriculum on the horizon.
Labour has never had a female leader despite its tremendous record on promoting women MSS. This time round Eluned Morgan shouldn’t be scrambling around for nominations to get on the ballot paper.
Health is going to be massively high profile for sure but likely for all the wrong reasons. Covid recovery, a hefty backlog of routine operations, never mind the metal health impacts as we emerge from the traumas of a pandemic but Eluned is a tough cookie who’s been around the political block and she’ll be relishing the opportunity to stamp her authority on the portfolio and, in so doing, elevate her profile ready for a leadership challenge.