Labour not taking Vaughan Gething’s leftover donations

Under usual party rules the leftover £31,000 would have gone to Labour.

Mr Gething has faced repeated calls to repay the £200,000 from Dauson Environmental Group, which owns several waste, demolition and recycling businesses.

In the Senedd on Tuesday Mr Gething said the Welsh executive had agreed “to my request” to give the money to “progressive causes”.

Mr Gething told the Senedd he will not “take a part in making that decision” about who got the money.

“I think they need to have that conversation freely and without me in the room,” he said.

Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth said passing on the residual money was the “easy bit isn’t it?”

He said the cash would have “tainted the whole Labour general election campaign”.

“Doesn’t Labour’s decision to reject it prove the first minister’s serious error of judgments and being more than happy to take it in the first place,” he said.

Mr Gething said “not only have I acted within the rules but I’ve also recognised the points that a number of members have made”.

“Which is why there’s a process within my own party to look at the future rules to understand the test that everyone needs to meet.”

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, Andrew RT Davies, said: “This is a damning indictment of Vaughan Gething’s judgement by his own party.

“Not even the Labour Party that elected Jeremy Corbyn wants to touch this money with a barge pole.”

A spokesperson for Welsh Labour said: “As agreed by the officers of the Welsh Executive Committee, Vaughan Gething is donating surplus funds from his campaign to wider progressive causes.”