Vaughan Gething: Trump and Brexit set Wales back on race

Wales has gone backwards on racial equality over the past decade, it has been claimed.

The warning has come from Vaughan Gething, who was the first black person to become a cabinet minister in any of the UK's devolved governments.

Mr Gething is Wales' economy minister having previously covered health.

While he acknowledges progress has been made, he thinks some of it has been eroded by Brexit divisions and Donald Trump's US presidency.

"We're in better place than we were in the 70s and 80s undoubtedly" Mr Gething told BBC Walescast podcast, as part of a series of interviews with politicians from different parties.

But he warned against complacency, adding: "We are going to have to re-fight some of the battles for people's perception."

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Mr Gething arrived in the UK when he was two with his Welsh father and Zambian mother.

The family had intended to settle in Monmouth in 1976, but his father had the job offer withdrawn "when he turned up with my mum and a crowd of brown children".

So he grew up in Dorset instead, becoming interested in politics from reading about the injustices of apartheid-era South Africa on the front pages during his newspaper round.

He finally got to Wales for university, studying at Aberystwyth and Cardiff while becoming the first black president of NUS Wales.

"I think sometimes we tell a bit of a myth to ourselves that Wales has always been this proud, progressive place," he said.

"But if you talk to people about their own experiences… some of them put up with stuff that they should never have had to put up with."

'More extreme and unpleasant'

While he acknowledges progress has been made, he thinks some of that has been eroded by the divisions over Brexit and Donald Trump's US presidency.

"I do think that in the last decade or so we have gone backwards," Mr Gething said.

Vaughan Gething was two when he arrived in the UK with his parents

"It's emboldened some people on the more extreme and unpleasant end of opinion and that gets back into the mainstream.

"So challenging that is important. It's one of the reasons I'm really proud of the fact that we've got a curriculum where black history is being taught as part of Welsh history, because there are people who look like me that have been here for quite a long time.

"And our history is part of the history and the story of Wales and I regularly say it's part of the future of Wales as well."

Mr Gething was elected to what was then the Welsh Assembly in 2011.

A steady climb up the ministerial ladder saw him get the health portfolio, putting him in the hot seat when the pandemic struck and raising his public profile considerably.

Becoming better known meant "Some people said, 'You were lucky'," he said with disbelief. "I never felt lucky at the time."

He described a relentless workload and difficult choices where evidence sometimes pointed in more than one direction

Now the Welsh government is resisting pressure to hold a Wales specific inquiry into its handling of Covid.

Mr Gething insists a UK wide inquiry is the best way to examine Welsh ministers' decision-making because they were always made "in a UK context".

But can he really expect a country with only five per cent of UK's population to get sufficient attention in a UK-wide inquiry?

"I really do think there will be proper scrutiny, and there should be," Mr Gething added.

Vaughan Gething used to enjoy playing cricket when he first moved to Cardiff

As economy minister, he is facing the next big crisis - the rapidly rising prices of everyday essentials like food and energy.

With some public servants angry with the Welsh government's pay offer, would he support strike action?

"If I were a trade union steward at the moment, I can well understand why I'd be going to members and saying 'we need to do something'," he said.

"The challenge is that the Welsh government doesn't have the resources to give people a 13% pay rise."

"Any negotiation is not just understanding what you want, but understanding what you can get and the other side can give."

Mr Gething also stands by his decision to spend £4.25m of taxpayers' money on buying Gilestone Farm in Powys for the Green Man festival.

He accepts communication over why the purchase was being made could have been better but he insisted it was "a reasonable choice to have made".

He added: "We've got a festival with a really significant economic impact.

"I want to see that business to continue to be anchored in Wales, with the benefits that come from it.

"When the detailed business plan comes back with advice for me about what to do, I'll then need to make a decision and to explain what decision I've made and why."

Looking to the future, there will be vacancy for the leadership of Welsh Labour in a few years as the present leader and First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced his intention to step down.

Cricket and karaoke

Mr Gething was beaten into second place by Mr Drakeford at the last contest in 2018 but he said they work well together.

"Mark is very pragmatic, he wants to know all the evidence but he then makes choices," said Mr Gething.

"And that's about understanding that you can't always make your perfect choice."

The pair do share a love of cricket.

"When I moved to Cardiff, the cricket club that was here at the time was Cardiff YMCA, and they were the first cricket club that I played for."

"I watch cricket now, that's because I can't play anymore."

But the vocal cords still work and Mr Gething also loves singing.

"I always enjoy singing. If there's a karaoke and I'm allowed the opportunity to sing lots of songs in a row then I will do."

His karaoke special?

"My Girl. The Otis Redding version."

Watch the interview on Walescast on BBC One Wales at 22:40 on Wednesday, or on iPlayer after broadcast, or listen to it on BBC Sounds.