FIRST MINISTER’s Questions continued to be dominated by the row about the £200,000 donations taken by Vaughan Gething and last week’s no-confidence vote.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies was angry that the First Minister and Labour colleagues called the no-confidence vote a stunt and wanted to know if Mr Gething thought it was a “serious debate, or was it a gimmick.”
The FM said he took the no-confidence debate seriously and the vote that came from it but he “regretted that last week we weren’t able to respect the normal traditions on pairing and the conventions that allow the democracy at the ballot box to be respected.”
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth referred to the FM wanting a new start and asked if “an apology in any way fits in with his idea of a new start.”
Mr Gething said: “I regret the way that the last three months have been covered and reported and I regret the impact of the choice I made within all of the rules at the time.
“It’s why I’ve agreed immediately to an internal review within my own party to look at how we run our affairs.
“It’s why I’ve also asked the standards of conduct committee on a cross-party basis to consider the rules that should apply to all of us.”
Mr ap Iorwerth also called for an independent investigation into the sacking of former social partnership minister Hannah Blythyn for allegedly leaking ministerial phone messages, which she denies, and whether it followed the rules.