Vaughan Gething became First Black leader of a European country Wales

Utkarsh Classes Last Updated 19-03-2024

Vaughan Gething became First Black leader of a European country Wales

Person in News 4 min read

Vaughan Gething, who currently serves as the Economic Minister of Wales, has won a close election against Jeremy Miles to become the new leader of the Welsh Labour Party.

This victory makes him the new First Minister of Wales and also marks him as the first ever Black person to lead a European country.

About Vaughan Gething

Vaughan Gething, the newly-elected leader of Welsh Labour, was born in Zambia in 1974 to a Welsh father and Zambian mother.
His family moved to Wales when he was two years old, but later resettled in England due to job discrimination against his father.
Gething attended Aberystwyth and Cardiff universities, worked as a trade union lawyer, and became the first Black president of both the Wales Trades Union Congress and the Wales National Union of Students.
He joined the Welsh legislature in 2011 and became the first Black minister in any devolved UK country in 2013. Gething has served as Wales’ health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic and recently as its economy minister.
He won the election for Welsh Labour leader with a narrow majority of 51.7% of the vote and plans to address the cost-of-living crisis, challenges facing farmers, and issues with healthcare and education systems in Wales.
Gething will be confirmed by the Welsh Parliament and will become Wales’ fifth first minister since the Senedd was established in 1999.

It's worth noting that non-white leaders now head three of the four major governments in the United Kingdom, including Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian heritage, as the U.K. Prime Minister, and Humza Yousaf, who is of Pakistani heritage, as the Scottish First Minister.

About Wales

Wales is one of the three countries that make up the island of Great Britain, along with our neighbors England and Scotland. Wales is also part of the United Kingdom, which consists of four countries: Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
From the early 1700s until the late 1990s, Wales was ruled by the United Kingdom's government but Wales now has its own government and parliament. The UK government and parliament are located in London, England.
Wales has its own legislative body, called Senedd Cymru, which is responsible for making, scrutinizing, and passing laws. Wales also has its own executive branch, the Welsh Government, which makes most of the day-to-day decisions that affect the people who live there.