00:00 The role of First Minister is the most important in Welsh politics. For devolved matters it
00:05 works basically the same as the Prime Minister in the UK Parliament. So far in the history
00:10 of the Senedd we have had three or four depending on technicalities. The first leader of the
00:14 Senedd was Alan Michael way back when the Senedd was founded in 1999 in a role then
00:19 known as First Secretary for what was then known as the Welsh Assembly. It wasn't until
00:23 the second leader of Rodri Morgan in 2000 that the role was renamed to First Minister
00:27 which has stayed the same ever since. When Rodri Morgan left in 2009, Carwyn Jones took
00:32 the position for nine years until in 2017 when our current First Minister Mark Drakeford
00:37 took the helm. Five years later we're on the hunt for our next Premier. We've already
00:42 explored the candidates Jeremy Miles and Vaughan Gething but now we'll be looking at the
00:46 process of what's going to happen over the coming weeks and months in order to find the
00:50 next Welsh Labour and Senedd leader. It's important to remember that this, although
00:56 we'll find our next First Minister, the voting process and election process we'll
01:00 see between now and March is for the leader of Welsh Labour. So MS'ers, Labour Party
01:05 members and affiliates like trade unions will decide the next Welsh Labour leader and therefore
01:10 decide the next First Minister. Given how much the role of First Minister has changed
01:15 and grown over the last almost quarter of a century of devolution, this election is
01:19 set to be one of the most important and will certainly be the most high profile ever. The
01:24 two candidates both have plenty of experience in the Welsh Government and are more than
01:28 used to the cameras so it should turn out to be an intriguing contest.
01:34 First step was nominations. Vaughan Gething announced his initial first bid and comes
01:38 with the backing of 11 Senedd members with Jeremy Miles following suit, throwing his
01:42 name in the hat before getting 17 Senedd members back in. So a slight early lead for Miles
01:47 there. Next will be the campaign trail. This is the first one for Jeremy Miles who's
01:52 previously stood back from running despite questioning whether he would contest the leadership
01:56 but for Vaughan Gething it'll be his second attempt at running for leader having previously
02:01 finished just behind Mark Drakeford back in the last election. So experience may be on
02:06 his side. A number of issues will be hotly debated with
02:10 the Institute for Welsh Affairs saying that some of the key areas of interest will be
02:14 the NHS in Wales, the climate and democratic reform of the Senedd. Other very contentious
02:19 elements will surely be the economy and cost of living crisis as well as that all too controversial
02:24 20 mile an hour law change with both candidates already saying they aim to review the decision
02:29 if they take charge. We may not get the usual glitz and glamour
02:33 of TV debates that you see for Senedd or UK Parliament elections but there will be speeches,
02:38 campaign trails and exchanges of words for sure. Both candidates bring something unique
02:42 to the table and both will be pioneers if they were to be elected with Vaughan Gething
02:47 becoming the first mixed race First Minister and Jeremy Miles being the first gay First
02:51 Minister. Whoever takes the role has plenty to do, plenty
02:55 to change and of course plenty to fix. So the race is on and by March after voting closes
03:00 we'll have a name. J.P. Twotkins reporting from Wales.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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