‘You can’t deny the historic nature’: Wales’ Vaughan Gething aims to become first black leader of a European country | Welsh politics

Vaughan Gething knows that whenever he discusses his skin colour, he is accused of playing the race card and opens himself up to a torrent of abuse on social media. Nevertheless, he does not fight shy of discussing the significance of what he will achieve if he becomes the leader of Welsh Labour, and thus the first minister of Wales, next month.

“You can’t deny the historic nature of it. I think I should win because I’m the best candidate. I’ve got loads of experience. I’ve got values rooted in our movement. I was a trade union shop steward, Wales TUC president, had 10 years as an employment lawyer and I have a vision for the future. But if I win, the fact that I’ll be the first black leader of any European nation is a matter of historic significance.”

Gething, who was born to a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, is used to being a trailblazer. In 2013, he became the first black minister in any of the devolved UK administrations, and he remains the only minority ethnic Welsh Labour politician elected in either the Welsh or UK parliaments. “That’s not because other people didn’t want to do it or weren’t capable or determined,” he said. But they didn’t have the opportunity or the breaks.

His importance as a role model was highlighted in September last year when he made an emotional visit to Birmingham, Alabama, to represent Wales at the 60th anniversary of the racist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church in which four black girls died. The people of Wales raised money for a stained glass window depicting a black Christ to be installed as part of the church’s restoration.

Gething said that when he got up to speak (having rehearsed for the daunting moment in a Greek Orthodox church in Cardiff), there was an audible gasp. “Even in Birmingham, Alabama, a very black city, they didn’t expect someone who looked like me to stand up from Wales,” he said.

As part of his leadership campaign, Gething has pledged to set up the Mari Rees fund, named in honour of a black Welsh Labour candidate for the Senedd elections in 2011.

“She died a month before the election. She would have been fantastic. The fund will pay for training and development for black, Asian and minority ethnic members to help them progress within Labour and stand in elections,” he said. “I think our Senedd needs to do more to look like our country.”

Gething was speaking to the Guardian at the Butetown community centre, in a deprived, richly diverse area of Cardiff where he served as a councillor. He said that what he had seen here – child poverty, people living in substandard housing, a lack of role models – had inspired him to strive for high office to try to make a difference.

He remembers one woman he had helped to move from overcrowded conditions waiting for him at the end of a surgery to thank him. “That motivates you to want to do more.” Making sure people have a decent place to call home is one of his key pledges and he has said he will prioritise speeding up the planning process for green, social housing.

Another key aim is to help children in the first 1,000 days of their lives. “Investing in those early years gives you the biggest return in terms of ambition, aspiration and achievement,” he said.

Gething’s first government job, 11 years ago, was as the deputy minister for tackling poverty. He was the health minister during Covid and now holds the economy brief. So hasn’t he had time already to tackle issues such as child poverty?

He said the devolved government had been hampered by funding cuts from the UK government but Welsh-only initiatives such as the Flying Start programme, which helps families with children under four in disadvantaged areas, had helped to protect the most needy.

“You definitely see the value in what we’ve done. You also see the harm done by choices made in Westminster.” A Labour win at the general election would help hugely, he said. “I’d like to be able to do more with a government that is on our side throughout the UK.”

One of the most contentious current issues in Wales is the widespread introduction of 20mph speed limits. Gething admitted that mistakes had been made.

“We got some of the messaging and communications wrong. We didn’t take people with us though the change. I want the policy to succeed because I want to know my son’s got less chance of being hit and more chance of getting up if it happens. We need to show we are prepared to listen and not just lecture.”

Unlike the current first minister, Mark Drakeford, and Gething’s rival for the top job, Jeremy Miles, Gething is not a Welsh speaker but he is learning. “I think it would be great to have a learner in the first minister’s office. We have this target of reaching a million Welsh speakers. To get to a million we need more people like me, people who are learning, showing the language is really there for all of us, it’s not there to exclude people. It’s something for all of us to be proud of.”

Miles has said he would offer Gething a job if he wins and offer to serve under him if he loses. Would Gething do the same? “I’m here to win,” he said. “I’d happily offer Jeremy a job in the government. I’ve got real respect for him. We’ll need all our trade union colleagues and allies to fight together against the Tories. We’ll need a united Senedd group and government to fight for Wales.”