Wales' charismatic health minister, Vaughan Gething, is shaking up the Welsh Labour leadership race. Left Foot Forward spoke to him.

I speak to Vaughan Gething – Wales’ health minister – on the day we learnt the UK government’s plan to stockpile medicines ahead of a no deal Brexit could cost us up to £2bn.

It’s an unenviable time to be running the health service. But Gething is both calm and upbeat: “The joy of life in government includes making choices. Sometimes they’re pretty shit choices – Brexit among them.”

In April, Carwyn Jones, who has led Welsh Labour since 2009, announced his intention to stand down this autumn. Gething is one of just two candidates with enough nominations to run for Welsh Labour leader – the other being the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Momentum-backed Mark Drakeford.

But Gething is making waves for his departure from official Labour policy: by backing a ‘People’s Vote’ on the final deal.

While it’s ‘too early’ to hold one at present, the health minister says it is the only way to avert a disastrous Tory Brexit.

“The idea that the Tories will plummet into another General Election is not true.” Instead, a People’s Vote is about trusting voters, he says.

“This is the biggest decision that we will face. My boy is four years old – this matters to me.”

Pressure is growing for a shift in Brexit policy to be heard at this month’s Labour conference in Liverpool.

“I hope it’s heard on the conference floor, with every strand of opinion. It’s important we have debate. The idea that the biggest issue facing us within the next six months doesn’t get aired would look odd within the party. And it would look odd to the public.

“We can’t only talk about austerity, or take an ambivalent, fudge position: we need leadership and clarity,” he says.

That’s especially true when Welsh Labour are dealing with the chaos of Brexit. He notes that stockpiling medicines – as Matt Hancock has suggested – is not possible for some medicines: “Their usable life doesn’t allow that to happen.”

Nonetheless, Wales is ”having to plan for [no deal] as a possibility. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll be very pleased. The opportunity costs and the time and money wasted should never be on the table.”

A divided party?

The Labour leadership race also comes amid talk of a possible split in the party – over Brexit and much besides. “The fact we have a Welsh labour leadership contest means different views on policy, ideology, and practical business” are aired.

He is clear however that there are some who would steer it away from a positive discussion: “We have people who’ll drag it into a binary. That isn’t the way I want to run our campaign.”

While we spoke to Mr Gething before this week’s adoption of the IHRA antisemitism code by the Labour NEC, he makes clear the need to tackle antisemitism in the party.

“We have to recognise the challenges of antisemitism aren’t about a small group of people trying to damage the party…It’s about how we behave, how we demonise people who make complaints, and [instead] dealing fairly and promptly. And we need to reach out to the Jewish community, to understand their concerns.”

Nor is pointing out Tory Islamophobia a get-out-of-jail card for Labour: “The reality that the Tories have a real problem with Islamophobia shouldn’t deflect attention away from challenges we have. We would be in a much stronger position to tackle Islamophobia if we dealt with this.

“It’s not just about saying we’ll adopt full IHRA – that won’t deal with the way people behave.”

Gething is clear that this isn’t about Jeremy Corbyn alone: “It’s about sharing responsibility: we need a consistent approach regarding complaints. We’ll have to do that for long period of time…

“It’s something that I’m deeply troubled by, and ashamed that party has managed to mismanage this so badly. Leadership at all levels takes responsibility for that.”

Is this a problem in Wales too? Yes, is the sad answer: “I had Jewish friends in the party put off standing for council, and a member said ‘good riddance, you’ll have more time to count your money’. That happens to lots of people in our party,” he says.

Twin challenges for Wales

It’s a tough time to potentially take the reigns of the Welsh government. “We face the twin challenges of Brexit and austerity.” The solution for the latter is a Labour government, Gething tells LFF.

“We’re still essentially a poor country” as a nation, says Gething. “Good work with decent pay” is the solution: “Poverty affects so much – we need to look again at all the levers available to us.” He’s calling for a new committee that has an outcome-driven approach to ending poverty in Wales, focusing on improving skills. It is the ‘over-arching challenge’.

And it could be made worse by Brexit. “A no deal Brexit is daunting on so many levels – we shouldn’t apologise for pointing out what a disaster that would be. It’s the worst possible outcome…The Brexit juggernaut is driving everything in government.”

The difficulty isn’t making the policies on tackling poverty, but making it happen. Government often tries to drag you towards the status quo.

Brexit is one almighty disruption to that. He is proud in opposing what he sees as a unparalleled threat to jobs, services and living standards. “I’m not a lone voice in this,” he notes. He is backed by others in the Labour and trade union movement, having been the first black president of the Welsh TUC.

Indeed, just this week, the GMB union – one of the largest in the country – declared its support for a ‘People’s Vote’ on the deal, adding its significant clout to smaller unions backing a fresh say.

“Our party should be on the side of hope,” he says. God knows it’s needed.

Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.

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