Vaughan Gething has resigned as Welsh Labour leader and First Minister of Wales.

The news comes after four ministers resigned from the Welsh government today, citing concerns over Mr Gething’s leadership.

FactCheck takes a look.

Why has Vaughan Gething resigned?

Mr Gething was elected to replace former first minister Mark Drakeford in March.

He was health minister throughout the Covid pandemic, a post he held from 2016 to 2021, before becoming economy minister.

However, he quickly came under sustained criticism in his new post for sacking minister Hannah Blythyn after she allegedly leaked a text from Mr Gething to a website. Ms Blythyn denied this and the website itself said she was not the source.

And there were concerns over donations Mr Gething took while running to be Welsh Labour leader. He accepted £200,000 from a recycling company whose owner had been found guilty of environmental offences. He insisted he had followed the rules around donations.

This led to the collapse of a co-operation agreement between his party and Plaid Cymru, with him subsequently losing a non-binding vote of no confidence in the Senedd.

In 2021, the two parties signed up to a three-year deal, agreeing to work together across a number of policy areas.

But Plaid Cymru withdrew from this agreement in May of this year – seven months before it was due to officially end.

Leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, told Sky News at the time that he questioned the “judgement” of the first minister’s decision to not pay back the £200,000 donation, and was also “worried by the circumstances” relating to the sacking of Ms Blythyn.

Mr Gething said in a statement today that he had “taken the difficult decision to begin the process of stepping down as leader of the Welsh Labour Party and, as a result, First Minister”, and will now discuss a timetable for the election of his successor.

He added that he had “hoped that over the summer a period of reflection, rebuilding and renewal could take place under my leadership” but “I recognise that this is not possible”.

But he denied any wrongdoing, as he said: “My integrity matters. I have not compromised it.

“I regret that the burden of proof is no longer an important commodity in the language of our politics.”

(Image credit: Dimitris Legakis/Athena Pictures/Shutterstock)