Gething defends minister sacking in tense exchange

Wales First Minister Vaughan Gething has insisted he is getting on with the job, despite a continuing row over his sacking of a minister and criticism of controversial donations to his leadership campaign.

He said there was evidence a photograph of Hannah Blythyn's phone had been sent to a website which published the story that triggered her dismissal.

Nation.Cymru used the picture to reveal that Mr Gething had said he was deleting messages from a chat group full of ministers in August 2020, during the pandemic.

He appeared before a Senedd committee on Friday, in a tense exchange with opposition members which saw the first minister raise his voice when interrupted.

A day after Nation.Cymru said Ms Blythyn was not the source of the story, Mr Gething told the committee he had never suggested she had contacted the website directly, only that it was a photograph of her phone.

"I've never tried to claim that Hannah Blythyn directly contacted Nation.Cymru," he said.

"I'm very clear, because I had it confirmed, that a photograph of her phone was provided to Nation.Cymru."

Hannah Blythyn was sacked as a Welsh government minister over message leak claims

Mr Gething said it was "hard for me to constantly have people question my integrity", and that he always tried to do the "right thing”, “including when it's difficult for me personally".

"That is what I'm doing again," he said. "And yet here we are, with more questions and more suggestions, that go to the heart of integrity and decency.

"And yet the government is getting on with the job."

The first minister gave the legislative programme he announced in the Senedd this week, the resolution of the pay dispute with hospital doctors, and his meeting with new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, as examples.

He was addressing the committee for the scrutiny of the first minister, which is made up of Senedd committee chairs and met on Friday at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd said there "remain two conflicting accounts" about the alleged leaked messages and accused Mr Gething of "side-stepping important questions".

“It was somewhat ironic that in the scrutiny session of the first minister, Vaughan Gething did everything possible to avoid scrutiny," he said.

Conservative group leader Andrew RT Davies called on the first minister to "release the evidence he relied upon to dismiss Hannah Blythyn from his government".

“The people of Wales cannot be expected to simply take him at his word," he said.

Additional reporting by Aled Scourfield