Wales election: New health and education ministers in reshuffle

Eluned Morgan and Jeremy Miles are rewarded with promotions within the cabinet

Eluned Morgan has been named health minister with Jeremy Miles at education in a Welsh government reshuffle.

In a surprise move, Vaughan Gething moves from health to economy, replacing Ken Skates who leaves the government.

Mark Drakeford was sworn in as first minister earlier, after Senedd members backed him to continue in the role on Wednesday.

Labour won 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Parliament in last week's election.

Both Mr Gething and Mr Skates had been in their previous posts for five years.

Mr Gething had a particularly high profile as health minister during the pandemic, in leading the response to the coronavirus crisis alongside Mr Drakeford and the chief medical officer.

Vaughan Gething visited an NHS depot collecting supplies for India in one of his last acts as health minister on Monday

Announcing the changes, the first minister paid tribute to Mr Skates, who he said would "continue speaking up for north Wales and for Welsh Labour, but in a different role".

"We will miss his energy and passion," he said.

Mr Drakeford said Mr Gething's efforts during the pandemic had been "extraordinary" but he felt it was time "to ask someone else to take on that challenge".

The former health minister, he said, was taking over the economy job "at a crucial point in time - the pandemic is not just a public health emergency but also an economic one".

'Fronting up'

Laura McAllister, professor of public policy at Cardiff University, said there had been "rumours for a while that Vaughan Gething wanted to move from the health portfolio".

"He's been in position there for five years and was a deputy before that, and that's quite a long stint really, in a very difficult role and not least, of course, during a pandemic, so I can see the logic to that," she told BBC Radio Wales.

Prof McAllister said his replacement, Eluned Morgan, as health minister had a "very effective time during the pandemic in terms of fronting up on government policy, sometimes at very difficult times", and she was being rewarded for that.

Mark Drakeford (centre) assembles his new team at the Welsh government offices in Cardiff

The new cabinet was expected to meet on Thursday evening to finalise Friday's Covid lockdown restrictions review.

Julie James has been appointed to a new cabinet role as minister for climate change, with Lee Waters as her deputy.

Mr Drakeford said: "The environment will be at the heart of our decision-making.

"The climate change emergency has not gone away while we have been dealing with the pandemic.

"Wales is a beautiful country with immense natural assets, which will help power our recovery and create the jobs of the future.

"In my new government, the environment doesn't just have a seat at the cabinet table, it will be a consideration in all we do."

Jane Hutt moves from chief whip to a newly created post of minister for social justice.

Two thirds of the new cabinet are women.

Dawn Bowden, Member of the Senedd (MS) for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, joins the government from the backbenches as deputy minister for arts and sport and takes over Ms Hutt's former role of chief whip, responsible for ensuring discipline in the Labour ranks.

Torfaen MS Lynne Neagle, a Cardiff Bay politician since 1999, also gets a government job for the first time, as deputy minister for mental health and wellbeing.

In a statement marking his departure as economy minister, Mr Skates said: "This week I informed the first minister of my wish to step away from Welsh government. After eight years in government, now is the right time."

He added: "Clwyd South has always remained my number one priority, and my decision will enable me to spend more time in the constituency, focusing on local matters, as well as further strengthening the party's position in north Wales and further afield."

'Significant task'

Conservative Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies said his members would "scrutinise and hold ministers to account, but will also offer the hand of cooperation where possible to ensure Wales bounces back from the most difficult year we've experienced".

"It's in this spirit that I want to wish the first minister and his new cabinet well as they start the significant task of ensuring our economy and public services get on the road to recovery," he said.

Plaid Cymru South Wales West MS Sioned Williams welcomed the "greater focus on climate change and mental health" but urged new ministers in other portfolios to address the "policy shortcomings and lack of delivery of their predecessors".

"With record waiting lists, a low wage economy and one in three children living in poverty - all there before the pandemic and all on Labour's watch - we are in danger of getting the same results if ministers do the same thing over and over again," she said.

The next Senedd term takes us through well over half of what the UK's advisers on climate change describe as a "decisive decade".

By 2030 Wales needs to have got rid of two thirds of its greenhouse gas emissions.

And if there's hope of no longer contributing to global warming by 2050, the complex rewiring required of our economy and way of life must truly get under way.

It's a monumental task and these new climate change ministerial and deputy ministerial roles should be considered among the most senior and important jobs in the Welsh government.

But of course every department and minister will have to work out how they too can rise to this challenge, with Wales already starting to feel the potentially disastrous effects of a changing climate.