How a new First Minister of Wales is appointed

Following Mark Drakeford’s announcement that he planned to stand down as leader of the Welsh Labour Party and First Minister of Wales, Labour held a leadership election in early 2024 to find his successor.

On Saturday 16 March 2024, the result of that election was announced. The successful candidate, Vaughan Gething, became the Leader of Welsh Labour immediately.

While Welsh Labour is in government, he is, of course, not only the leader of his party, but also expected to be the First Minister of Wales.

Before he can assume that office, though, there is a process to go through.

Following his resignation, the Senedd has 28 days to nominate his successor, although in practice this will happen on Wednesday 20 March.

Once the Senedd has been notified [i] of the First Minister’s resignation, the Llywydd, who presides over proceedings in the Senedd and is the equivalent of the Speaker of the House of Commons, will invite nominations for the office of First Minister.

This is different to how things work in Westminster. There, the Prime Minister doesn’t need to be nominated. They are just appointed by the King under the Royal Prerogative on the basis that they lead the party or grouping which can command the confidence of the House of Commons.

In Wales, in theory, any Member of the Senedd could be nominated to be First Minister [ii]. In practice, though, because the Senedd’s nominee has to have a simple majority of support, this would normally be (and has always been) the leader of the largest political group in the Senedd.

So, when the Llywydd invites nominations, Vaughan Gething will be put forward by one of his party colleagues. If his name is the only name put forward, he will automatically become the Senedd’s nominee for the office of First Minister.

However, it is possible that other names might be put forward. For example, one or more of the other parties in the Senedd might put forward their leaders’ names. Doing this is largely symbolic, perhaps as a message to Welsh Labour or to try and win policy concessions from the Welsh Government. It has happened a few times, but not every time.

But sometimes, symbolism can come close to actually happening. Following the 2016 election, when Labour won 29 seats, Plaid Cymru nominated their leader Leanne Wood for the office of First Minister.

The 29 voting members of the Plaid Cymru, Welsh Conservative, and UKIP groups voted for Wood, with Carwyn Jones also receiving 29 votes from Labour and the Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams. The deadlock lasted a week before Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed to the formation of a minority Labour government.

Were such a scenario to arise again, the process would be the same as in 2016. The Senedd would simply have to vote until one name has secured a simple majority of support. They may need to go through several rounds of voting until this is achieved.

If a nomination cannot be made within 28 days, a fresh Senedd election follows, so it’s generally a good idea to make a nomination.

Assuming that doesn’t happen, once one person has a simple majority of support or if Vaughan Gething is the only candidate, that person becomes the Senedd’s nominee for the office of First Minister, and addresses Members of the Senedd for the first time as First Minister-designate.

Then, the Llywydd will write to the King to inform him of the name of the Senedd’s nominee [iii]. Shortly afterwards, the King will formally appoint the new First Minister by a document called a Royal Warrant. The First Minister will become Keeper of the Welsh Seal at the same time [iv].

Once the Llywydd has informed the Welsh Government of the King’s approval, the new First Minister will take part in a simple ceremony at the Welsh Government’s headquarters in Cathays Park, where he will take the Official Oath or make the equivalent Affirmation before a judge [v].

Then the business of governing begins. The First Minister will name Ministers for the King’s approval, and the new Welsh Government will get to work on a new Programme for Government.

In the following days and weeks, the First Minister will also be sworn of the Privy Council. 

It is expected that the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru will end by the end of 2024, so in many ways, we can think of this moment as the starting pistol on the long road to the next Senedd election in May 2026.