Contenders for next Welsh Labour leader launch bids

Eluned Morgan is on the ballot paper with Vaughan Gething and Mark Drakeford

Two AMs bidding to become the next first minister and become Welsh Labour leader have launched their campaigns.

Vaughan Gething outlined his "pledge for Wales" - with policies including free school meals in holiday time and university fees paid for care leavers.

Mark Drakeford said he was a "21st Century socialist" - emphasising his links with the late former first minister, Rhodri Morgan.

Eluned Morgan's bid for the leadership will be launched this week.

First Minister Carwyn Jones intends to resign on 11 December following his final First Minister's Questions, with his successor in place the following day.

Mr Gething said a package of new policy proposals would deliver for every generation of Wales, including a national care service for elderly people.

Vaughan Gething, stood with apprentices at an engineering college in Nantgarw, vowed to end "holiday hunger" at his campaign launch on Monday

The health secretary vowed to remove tuition fees for care leavers, provide free school meals outside of term time to end "holiday hunger", and expand the Welsh Government's childcare offer to parents undertaking work-related education and training.

Currently the flagship 30-hours a childcare week policy - which is being rolled out - is only available to working parents of three and four-year-olds.

Mr Gething said he would also expand it to working parents of two-year-olds living in poverty.

"We need to transform our approach to tackling poverty," he said, calling for a "radical external review" to give a "no holds barred" account of how the Welsh Government acts.

Mr Gething said the contest should help bring Labour back together after the "tragic events of last November" - referring to the death of sacked minister Carl Sargeant.

He said he was determined to act "in a manner that promotes respect" and that robust debate "should not be an excuse for bitterness".

In comments appearing to criticise Mr Drakeford, who has said he is a "bridge" to the future of the party's leadership, Mr Gething said he was offering a "long-term" leadership.

Mark Drakeford said he never regretted supporting Jeremy Corbyn

Launching his campaign at the Dusty Forge community centre in Cardiff, Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford emphasised his links with late former First Minister Rhodri Morgan and UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

He said he had "never regretted" that he was the only Welsh Government cabinet minister to support Mr Corbyn when he ran for the UK Labour leadership in 2015.

Mr Drakeford's background as first health and now finance secretary "make me as well prepared as possible to do this job on Labour's behalf", he said.

Describing Mr Morgan as his "mentor", he said working as the former first minister's top adviser before succeeding him as the AM for Cardiff West had given him an invaluable insight into leadership.

"There will be no time to learn on the job," he told an audience of supporters in his constituency.

Mr Drakeford also said Carwyn Jones's successor will have to "reunite" Labour AMs after the "distressing and draining" year since Carl Sargeant died.

He said he wanted Labour members to have a political choice - and said that as leader he would "shape" a review into party democracy to give the grassroots a stronger voice.

Mr Drakeford told BBC Wales that it would have been to "manipulate the system" for him to have asked an AM to nominate another candidate.

Eluned Morgan is in the contest after she won a nomination from Carwyn Jones, but only following a row over whether she would get enough support to take part.

A number of activists had called for action to ensure a woman would be on the ballot.

"It was not for me, I felt, to say to somebody who came to me and said I want to nominate you, and say I think you ought to nominate somebody else," he said.

Last month, Welsh Labour decided to use the one-member-one-vote system, like the one that elected Mr Corbyn, for the poll.

The ballot will open on 6 November, with the result on 6 December.

Analysis

By Felicity Evans, BBC Wales political editor

Today we've seen the broad themes of the Welsh Labour Leadership contest being laid out.

Mark Drakeford is positioning himself as the continuity candidate with strong socialist credentials - a safe pair of hands on the tiller navigating through the choppy waters of Brexit.

Vaughan Gething is declaring himself the renewal candidate - arguing that without change the party risks looking complacent after nearly twenty years in power.

This constructs a neat binary choice for party members.

But thing about binaries is that they cater only for two options and in this contest there are three.

Eluned Morgan will launch her campaign later this week. She faces the challenge of how to interrupt the dialogue of her rivals and insert her own agenda.