Eluned Morgan likely to become first female FM in Wales

Welsh Health Secretary Eluned Morgan looks set to become the next leader of Welsh Labour , and the country’s first female first minister, after no one else entered the race.

With the contest to replace First Minister Vaughan Gething set to end at midday on Wednesday, Baroness Morgan is the only person to have announced they are running.

While Baroness Morgan is likely to become leader of Welsh Labour on Wednesday, she would not immediately become the first minister, with a vote required in the Senedd.

The Welsh parliament is currently on recess until September, and it would need to be recalled for her to take over sooner.

Welsh Conservatives have already said they will be asking for a recall if she wins, with party leader Andrew RT Davies saying this would “give Wales greater stability”.

Labour’s ruling body had originally set a timeline of having a new Labour leader in place on September 14 following a vote, with them taking over as FM on September 18.

The vast majority of Labour MSs have thrown their support behind Baroness Morgan, including Mr Gething’s former leadership rival Jeremy Miles, and former FM Mark Drakeford.

On Tuesday, Ken Skates, one of the last people tipped as a potential candidate, announced his intention to back her.

Those not to have offered support to anyone include Mr Gething and Hannah Blythyn, a former government minister who was sacked by Mr Gething.

Baroness Morgan has promoted herself as a “unity candidate”, with the Labour group having become fractured in recent months following a series of rows involving Mr Gething and donations he took during the last leadership election earlier this year.

Baroness Morgan is running on a joint ticket with rural affairs minister Huw Irranca-Davies, who would become deputy first minister.

Mr Irranca-Davies, the MS for Ogmore, would not become the deputy leader of Welsh Labour, with that role taken by the MP Carolyn Harris.

Baroness Morgan has been the Senedd member for Mid and West Wales since 2016 and a peer in the House of Lords since 2011.

She is currently listed as being on a leave of absence in the Lords.

From 1994 to 2009 Baroness Morgan was a member of the European Parliament.

The race to replace Mr Gething is being held after four members of his government quit en masse last week, criticising his leadership.

Mr Gething then announced he was standing down just four months after taking on the role.

He has faced a series of rows over a £200,000 donation to his leadership campaign from a company owned by a man twice convicted of environmental offences.

Last month Mr Gething lost a vote of no confidence in the Senedd, after rows over the donation, and his decision to sack Delyn MS Ms Blythyn as a minister.