Welsh Labour leadership contest ballot papers issued

Eluned Morgan, Vaughan Gething or Mark Drakeford will replace Carwyn Jones in December

Ballot papers for the election of a new leader of the Labour Party in Wales are being sent out.

Mark Drakeford, Vaughan Gething and Eluned Morgan want to replace Carwyn Jones as Labour leader and first minister.

The voting papers are going to Labour members in Wales, as well as members of affiliated trade unions and organisations.

The ballot closes on 3 December with the winner announced on 6 December.

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All three contenders are members of the Welsh Government.

Mr Drakeford is finance secretary, Mr Gething health secretary and Ms Morgan minister for the Welsh language.

In September, Welsh Labour decided to use the one-member-one-vote system, the one that was used to elect Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, for the poll.

Previously it used an electoral college process for such contests, which split the votes three ways between members, unions and politicians.

It sometimes resulted in victories by candidates whose rival had more support from party members, most recently when Carolyn Harris beat Julie Morgan to become deputy leader of Welsh Labour in April.