Welsh first minister loses no-confidence vote

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Vaughan Gething in Wales lost a no-confidence vote Wednesday for a controversial donation to his leadership campaign, increasing pressure on him to step down.

The 50-year-old politician has been in power less than three months after being elected first minister in March.

The no-confidence motion was tabled by Welsh Conservatives and backed by Plaid Cymru as well as Liberal Democrats following controversy concerning a £200,000 ($255,000) donation to his leadership campaign from David Neal, who was convicted of dumping waste on the scenic Gwent Levels in south Wales.

"I have dedicated my adult life to public service and to Wales. I have never ever made a decision in more than a decade as a minister for personal or financial gain," Gething said Wednesday in an address to the Senedd, or Welsh parliament.

He narrowly lost the no-confidence vote at the Senedd -- 29 - 27.

"His position is now untenable and he must resign immediately," the UK government's Welsh Secretary David TC Davies wrote on X.

Gething was born in 1974 in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, to a Welsh father and a Zambian mother. He has been a member of the Senedd for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2011.