2018 Welsh Labour Party leadership election


The 2018 Welsh Labour Party leadership election took place between 9 November and 6 December 2018 to elect a successor to Carwyn Jones as leader of the Welsh Labour Party.
Carwyn Jones, who had led Welsh Labour since 2009, announced his intention to resign at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno in April 2018. He stated that he would stand down in autumn 2018, and that he would continue to lead the party until then.

Procedure

Ahead of the election, Drakeford and Morgan argued in favour of changing the voting system to one member one vote. Four trade unions—GMB, Unison, Usdaw and the CWU—supported the continuation of an electoral college, whilst Unite supported changing to one member one vote.
A special conference held on 15 September decided that the system that will be used for the election will be by one member one vote+. This means that the votes of party members and members of affiliated organisations who vote carried the same weight. The decision by the special conference followed a consultation that was carried out by Lord Murphy.
Ballot papers were sent out to members on 9 November by email, or by post for those who did not have an email address. They had until 3 December to return their vote. A preferential voting system was used.
The result of the election was announced on 6 December, with Carwyn Jones scheduled to formally resign as First Minister of Wales the following week. His resignation will trigger a vote of all Assembly Members to elect his successor as First Minister.
Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Kirsty Williams had joined Welsh Labour in government following the 2016 assembly election as Cabinet Secretary for Education. She said that she would stay on in post if the same terms were available as those agreed with Carwyn Jones when she joined the government.
Former Plaid Cymru AM Dafydd Elis-Thomas left his party in October 2016 to support the Labour-led government, and joined the government as Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport in November 2017. This gave the government side a majority of 31 out of the 60 Assembly Members.
All three candidates in the election indicated they would wish for Williams and Elis-Thomas to remain in the government.

Timetable

In order to become a candidate, individuals required 20% of current Labour AMs to nominate them. This equated to six AMs, including themselves.
Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford was the first candidate to declare he was standing, shortly after Jones announced he would be stepping down. He immediately securing the support of seven other AMs, ensuring he would be on the ballot. A further nine AMs later announced they were nominating Drakeford, giving him the support of a majority of the Labour Group. He has the backing of Momentum, a group supportive of national leader Jeremy Corbyn, and has been described as both a "Corbynist" and as a pragmatist. Drakeford started the election as the favourite, though academic Roger Awan-Scully suggested that he may not necessarily remain the frontrunner.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething announced his candidacy on 25 May, with the support of four members of the Assembly, putting himself one nomination short of becoming a candidate. He later achieved the required number of endorsements when Ann Jones announced she would nominate him on 10 August.
Minister for Welsh Language & Lifelong Learning Eluned Morgan announced her intention to run on 11 June 2018, declaring herself to be a 'centre-left candidate'. She didn't receive any further nominations until Huw Irranca-Davies and Alun Davies, who had wanted to stand for the leadership but received no public support from other AMs, withdrew and nominated her. Two other AMs also nominated her, putting her one nomination short of the six required. After Gething received sufficient nominations, he asked that no further AMs nominate him, but instead nominate a female candidate. He suggested that Drakeford himself could nominate Morgan to ensure diversity in the election. National party leader Jeremy Corbyn called for diversity in the choices offered to Welsh Labour members. On 24 September, at the Labour Conference in Liverpool, Carwyn Jones said that if necessary he would nominate Morgan to ensure that there was a woman on the ballot paper, making it clear that he would remain neutral regarding the merit of the candidates.
In addition to nominations from AMs, candidates could receive supporting nominations from Welsh MPs, affiliated trade unions and Constituency Labour Parties, to be listed alongside the candidates' names on the ballot paper.

Campaign

Drakeford started the election as the favourite, though academic Roger Awan-Scully cautioned against the assumption that he would go on to win. Drakeford said he would act as a "bridge" to a new generation, and that he would stand aside midway through the next term of the Assembly. His early policy proposals included a pilot of universal baby boxes like those used in Finland and Scotland.
In addition to a formal campaign launch in the Ely area of Cardiff at the community centre where he once worked, Drakeford held a second launch at Northop College to announce his plans for North Wales. He also launched a set of economic policy proposals at the North Wales launch, and later held further policy launch events: a social policy launch in Blackwood and an environmental policy launch in Carmarthen.
In a speech delivered in his former department at Cardiff University, Drakeford set out the political philosophy he called '21st Century Socialism', in which he suggested the Labour Party in Wales should use its traditional socialist principles to find solutions for the challenges facing modern Wales, such as the housing crisis, climate change and Brexit.
Gething put focus on inter-generational poverty, and committed to improving productivity. He also pledged to create a National Care Service to deliver elderly care free at point of use, funded by tax increases or a new care levy.
Gething faced controversy for creating a group separate to his leadership campaign called Together for Labour, which was accused of being a vehicle to keep data after the end of the leadership campaign. He was also criticised for accepting large campaign donations from a company which had been convicted for environmental infringements, another which is a major property developer in his constituency, and another which is owned by a controversial former local Councillor.
Morgan said she would appoint a minister for north Wales, as well as increasing support for the self-employed. She also proposed a universal basic income for Wales, starting by pitching for a pilot to be held in a Welsh community.
Morgan also faced questions about her election expenses, as she did not publicly register any donations to her campaign.
Both Gething and Morgan said they would support a public vote on the final Brexit deal if elected leader, while Drakeford supported the national Labour Party position of only calling for another referendum as a last resort.

Candidate endorsements

Withdrawn

and Alun Davies withdrew on 18 September 2018 to endorse Eluned Morgan.

Declined

The results were announced at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 6 December 2018.
Turnout among members was 53.1% and among affiliates it was 5.6%.