VAUGHAN GETHING has today been confirmed as the new first minister of Wales.

Gething was elected leader of the Welsh Labour party on Saturday, making history by becoming the first Black head of government in Europe.

He succeeds Mark Drakeford  – who stood down yesterday – after winning the election on Saturday with 51.7% of a vote of Senedd members.

Gething said becoming the first Black leader of any European country was “a matter of pride, I believe for a modern Wales, but also a daunting responsibility for me that I do not take lightly”.

King Charles will have to approve Gething’s new role, before he is sworn in and begins to appoint his cabinet members.

Sadly, the 50-year-old politician also said that he expects to receive abuse online following his appointment as Wales’ first minister.

He said: “Today, we can also expect the depressingly familiar pattern to emerge: abuse on social media, racist tropes disguised with polite language. People questioning my motives and, yes, they will still question or deny my nationality, whilst others question why I’m ‘playing the race card’.

“To those people, I say once more – it is very easy not to care about identity when your own has never once been questioned or held you back.”

The Welsh Labour politician was born in Zambia, to a white Welsh father and Black Zambian mother, and was brought up in Dorset. 

Prior to his new appointment, he was serving as Minister for the Economy in Wales, and had held this prestigious position since May 2021.

In 2013, he was appointed the first Black minister in any Welsh government.

Diverse political landscape

In 2022, he told The Voice, he is always willing to raise issues that affect the Black community and hopes to see a more diverse political landscape across Wales in the coming years. 

He said: “You need to reflect on the fact that I’m not the first person who could do this, so you need to look at what’s come before and why didn’t those people succeed and what will we do to make sure it isn’t another 70 years before someone like me turns up to represent the constituency or be a minister in the government.”

“People like me are here because we deserve to be,” he added.

Gething also told The Voice, his family did experience some racism while he was growing up.

During his primary school years, he says his siblings were the only children who “were not white” and it was during secondary school, that he sadly became more aware of racism. 

He said: “In my secondary school my family was at least half of the children of colour in the school. 

“It was pretty white and you were pretty easy to spot.

“When playing school sport for your secondary school is when there starts to be comments on the pitch about you being Black.” 

Gething also paid tribute to his predecessor and thanked Drakeford “for everything you have done for Wales.”

In the House of Commons, he was also congratulated by the prime minister Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party.