They say a picture tells a thousand stories. If so, one has to wonder about the sad image of the First Minister of Wales shaking and crying in the Senedd this week.
On Wednesday, Labour’s new incumbent, 50-year-old Vaughan Gething, lost a motion of no confidence, just 78 days after his controversial appointment in March. This caused him to cry in front of his colleagues and to express words of regret, which some say are extremely rare.
Reason? In February, during the leadership campaign, it was revealed that Gething had received two donations totaling £100,000 from a major environmental company found guilty of polluting the environment.
The Dauson Environmental Group, whose director is Welsh businessman David John Neal (63), has been convicted on numerous occasions for environmental crimes; The companies were fined and ordered to pay costs totaling more than £400,000.
But in the new year, Neal increased Gething’s campaign coffers by a total of £200,000. Despite repeated calls from Labor colleagues and opposition politicians for the money to be returned, Gething has persistently refused. The £200,000 donation represents roughly 80 per cent of the £254,000 Gething has spent in total. And it counts as one of the largest donations in Welsh political history. To put it in context, his rival Jeremy Miles could only raise £58,800 from all donors in the same time period.
To his Conservative rivals, who later triggered the no-confidence vote, it is a sad tale of pollution, corruption and squalor. Here – in pictures – we tell the story.
Gwent Levels
The problem started in 2013 on the picturesque Gwent Levels between Newport and Cardiff. The marsh area is an area of special scientific interest (SSSI) filled with rare species such as otters, grass snakes and marsh weevils. It also supports a variety of wetland birds such as sandpipers and oystercatchers.
Rubbish
However, in 2013, two companies in the area owned by millionaire David John Neal were found to be in violation of environmental laws. One of them, Atlantic Recycling, illegally stored 19,000 tonnes of rubbish in a field close to Neal’s farm in Wentloog. In another breach of regulations, soil separation company Neal Soil Suppliers was found to have spread food waste and dairy waste across a field, creating a foul odor for those living nearby.
convicted criminal
Following a year-long investigation by Natural Resource Wales (NRW), Neal appeared at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court in 2013, where he pleaded guilty personally to breaches of environmental regulations and also pleaded guilty to the dumping of potential waste on behalf of two of his companies. It may cause environmental pollution or harm to human health.
He was given a three-month suspended prison sentence and fined £10,000, while his two firms were fined £50,000 each and ordered to pay £51,000 each in costs. The court heard “significant and serious contamination” had been caused by toxic liquid leaking into the water.
Unrepentant
Neal appeared in court again in 2017, this time pleading guilty to failing to remove waste from the facility as he was ordered in 2013. He was given a further 18-week suspended prison sentence; Both companies were fined, with total costs of £230,000. At the time, Jon Goldsworthy from North Rhine-Westphalia said: “Despite our best efforts to work with David John Neal and the companies he runs, he continues to fail to respect the rules we enforce and the health of the environment.”
Atlantic Recycling appeared in court again in January 2023 and pleaded guilty once again to failing to operate in accordance with its environmental permit at Cardiff Crown Court. The crime is alleged to date from July 2019. The sentence will be given in December this year.
Donations
In the autumn of 2018, Gething received £38,000 from two of Neal’s companies – Atlantic Recycling and Neal Soil Suppliers – when he stood to become leader of the Welsh Labor Party. A few months earlier, in the spring of 2018, Gething had written a letter to NRW supporting his friend’s efforts to build a lucrative water purification and biomass boiler at one of his facilities. He said: “I’m not sure how any further delay can be justified.”
But as late as January this year, Atlantic Recycling once again pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court for failing to operate in accordance with its licence, according to reports on the BBC. The crime is alleged to date from July 2019. The company is currently awaiting fines. In February 2024, it was reported that Neal had donated around £200,000 to Gething’s leadership campaign. It received £100,000 from Neal’s parent company, Dauson Environmental Group Ltd, on 18 December 2023 and £100,000 on 11 January 2024. Within the month the story emerged, Atlantic Recycling was fined £300,000 in February and ordered to pay £29,000. A health and safety breach followed the tragic death of a worker named Anthony Bilton after he collided with a large digger. Judge Neal Thomas told Merthyr Tydfil magistrates there was “no excuse” for their failures.
Conflict of interest?
Interestingly, Neal submitted a planning application to the Welsh government in January this year; He also gave the second of his £100,000 donations to Gething. His proposal was to build a 67-acre “solar park” covering some of the last remaining green space in this sensitive part of the Gwent Levels. The environmental impact assessment submitted as part of the application showed that the development would impact the SSSI. But the outcome would be determined by ministers in Gething’s own government, not local planning officers, as the businessman claimed the project was a “development of national importance”. The application is still being evaluated.
It was also revealed that after leaving the medical in 2021, Gething was tasked with improving the Welsh economy post-Covid. That role saw him oversee the Development Bank of Wales, which was created to lend taxpayers’ money to businesses to help restart the economy. Last February the bank decided to lend Neal Soil Suppliers £400,000 to finance the purchase of a solar farm. Gething denies any involvement.
more scent
Meanwhile, another of Neal’s firms, Resources Management Ltd, which runs the Withyhedge landfill near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, also faced pollution charges.
Locals have complained for years about the foul odor, where the smell can be heard from up to five miles away, and have likened the area to a “stink bomb on steroids”. Water quality campaigners have also raised concerns that overhead liquid discharge could have a detrimental effect on local streams and rivers. Others complain that the air quality monitoring was actually done by another of Neal’s firms, not by impartial observers.
Backlash
Since news of the donation broke, Gething has been dogged by calls from colleagues and opposition party members to return the money or resign. Plaid Cymru’s Mabon ap Gwynfor wrote on former Twitter account X: “The situation is unsustainable and unseemly. Gething must do what is right; He should return the money and walk away from this company.” Meanwhile, in a heated debate in the Senedd on May 1, former transport secretary Lee Waters said he was “deeply disturbed” by the donation.
Starmer’s reaction
Starmer defended Gething during a recent visit to Wales and said he had not broken any rules around donations. He says he “absolutely” trusts himself. This comes despite it being revealed last month that Gething had told ministers in a group chat in August 2020 that he had deleted WhatsApp messages about the government’s Covid response. He was the minister of health at that time; He said he was aware that they might be examined in the future, so he would get rid of them. This led to the sacking of minister Hannah Blythyn, who he later claimed was responsible for the leak that exposed him. A spokesman for the Covid Inquiry confirmed it had been made aware of the leaked message and was considering whether Gething needed to provide further information. Gething denied that the message contradicted evidence he gave to the inquiry in March.
Senedd’s tears
Gething has repeatedly insisted that the donations were made in accordance with party protocols and has rejected calls for the money to be returned. But his lack of remorse or accountability led to Wednesday’s no-confidence vote, which he lost by two votes. He later said that he “made mistakes and will continue to do so.”
“It hurts me deeply that my intentions are being questioned,” Gething added. “I will not shy away from scrutiny and challenge.”
Following the vote, Conservative Andrew RT Davies, Wales’ shadow first minister, said: Telegram: “Both Vaughan Gething and the Labor Party received money from the donor who caused this stink. Members of the Senedd rightly supported the Welsh Conservatives’ vote of no confidence in Mr Gething. But there are serious questions for Keir Starmer too.”
The vote is non-binding and Gething, backed by Sir Keir Starmer, has insisted he stay in office, but others are calling on him to resign. Meanwhile Neal said Wales Online he feels like a stick used to beat Gething with. He added: “I never asked or expected anything from Vaughan.” There is no doubt that this is not the end of the scent or the end of the story.
David John Neal and the Senedd have been reached for comment