Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Winning the leadership should have been a moment for Bourne getting to savour, but the
00:06 shine has been taken off his victory because of the continuing row over a large donation
00:11 to his campaign.
00:13 Stories about the £200,000 he accepted from a company run by this man, David Neill, have
00:18 overshadowed his victory.
00:20 The firm was prosecuted twice for illegally dumping waste at a conservation site.
00:26 In this morning's BBC Politics Wales programme, both the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru said
00:31 Mr Gething should give the money back.
00:34 After the election campaign finishes, this money goes to the Labour Party itself, as
00:37 I understand it, under the Labour Party rules.
00:40 So if Vaughan Gething is not prepared to pay it back, then why doesn't the Labour Party
00:43 pay it back?
00:44 So there are two options to give this money back if they so wish to.
00:47 Any unspent money goes back to the party, so the party could do it.
00:50 Or if Vaughan Gething chose to see sense and do it himself, he could do that.
00:53 I've made it very clear that it doesn't feel right, does it?
00:57 There's a perception issue around this money.
00:59 Vaughan Gething and the outgoing First Minister say they have considered very carefully and
01:04 no rules were broken here, but it's more about more than just the rules, isn't it?
01:07 It doesn't feel right.
01:09 And one way to clear that up would be to pay the money back, pay it to an environmental
01:14 charity, why not?
01:15 Arriving at the same studio to give his side of the story, Vaughan Gething said he recognised
01:20 the donation had become an issue.
01:22 But he said people should look at his manifesto, where he promised stricter penalties for companies
01:27 who damage the environment.
01:29 Given his relatively narrow victory over his opponent, Jeremy Miles, one very senior Labour
01:35 figure said today the donation won the contest for Mr Gething.
01:39 However, he insisted he wouldn't be handing the money back.
01:43 We've done nothing outside the rules.
01:44 There's nothing wrong in what we've done.
01:45 We've been scrupulous about following all of the rules.
01:49 There'll be different people having different views.
01:52 But I think the idea that there is a cast-iron wholesale view on this is not something I
01:57 recognise from all the calls I've made and that my team have made.
02:01 That is not the view of members within the party.
02:05 So actually what we need to do is to be clear about how united we're going to be moving
02:09 forward.
02:10 Though Vaughan Gething has now been asked numerous questions about the donation, the
02:17 anger of the opposition parties and some Labour figures mean the row could continue into next
02:22 week, even before he takes up the post of First Minister on Wednesday.
02:26 - Thank you.