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Rishi Sunak has called for an independent probe into a £200,000 donation to Welsh first minister Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign from a recycling company within months of its subsidiary receiving a £400,000 loan from a state-owned bank.
The UK Conservative prime minister made his comments before Gething, leader of the Welsh Labour party, narrowly won two votes in the Cardiff Senedd about motions by the Tories and Plaid Cymru that criticised his handling of the donation.
At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Sunak said the allegations around Gething were “an incredibly important issue” needing further disclosure.
Asked by a Tory MP about the claims, Sunak said: “I also agree with him on the need for transparency and an investigation regarding the Welsh Labour leader because it is very clear that the situation is not at all transparent and answers are needed.”
Gething, who was previously economy minister in the Cardiff government, received £200,000 in total for his campaign to become leader of the Welsh Labour party between December 2023 and January 2024 from recycling firm Dauson Environmental Group.
The company’s owner, David Neal, received a suspended sentence in 2013 over the illegal dumping of waste.
A subsidiary of Dauson, called Neal Soil Suppliers, had received a £400,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales in February 2023 to buy a solar farm.
The economy minister is responsible for DBW, which is wholly owned by the Welsh government although it is run independently.
Gething has repeatedly said he has never taken any decisions related to Dauson.
Jeremy Miles, who narrowly lost out to Gething in the Welsh Labour leadership race and is now economy minister in the Cardiff government, told the Commons’ Welsh affairs committee on Wednesday he would ask DBW “to reflect on whether any recent experience causes them to look again at their diligence processes”.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, the nationalist party, urged Gething to “urgently rethink” his refusal to hold an inquiry into the Dauson donation.
“By accepting £200,000 from an individual he knew was guilty of environmental crimes, the first minister revealed very poor judgment. Yet he has refused accountability at every opportunity since and brushed off scrutiny,” he said.
But members of the Senedd voted by 27 to 25 on Wednesday evening to reject a Plaid Cymru motion censoring the donation by Dauson to Gething.
They also voted by 27 to 25 to reject a Conservative motion claiming “public concern regarding a potential breach of the Welsh government’s ministerial code”.
One Labour colleague of Gething, former minister Lee Waters, called on him to give back the Dauson donation.
“It would not be a sign of weakness to say it was a mistake to take the donation, and now the facts are known, to give it back, it can still be done, in my view it should be done,” said Waters.
Soon after winning the Welsh Labour leadership, Gething said there would be a review into party rules led by former head Carwyn Jones.
The review will examine issues such as whether there should be a cap on donations, but Jones has said it will not examine “what any individual has done in the past”.
Separately, a company that donated to Gething during a previous Welsh Labour leadership contest is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over investments it sold in historic buildings.
The SFO in February raided multiple properties and made four arrests as part of a probe into Signature Living.
The Liverpool-based property investment group collapsed into administration in 2020, owing up to £140mn.
Gething received more than £20,000 in cash and non-cash donations from Signature Living in 2018, according to the Electoral Commission, the elections watchdog.
Lawrence Kenwright, founder of Signature, wrote on X in October 2018: “Gething is why we came to Cardiff to bring The Exchange Hotel back to life — a building which had been laying derelict for years.”
Kenwright added that Gething had “cleared the path for us, even though it was not part of his remit”.
Nick Ephgrave, SFO director, said at the time of the February raid that Signature’s investment scheme offered “attractive returns” and had used landmarks to “lure investors”.
Gething’s spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment on Dauson and Signature.