Drakeford: 'Personal attacks' put women off first minister job

Personal attacks on social media put women off standing for leader of Welsh Labour, says Mark Drakeford.

Mr Drakeford said he was disappointed there were no female candidates, and denied there was a problem with the "pipeline" of talent in the party.

Earlier this week the first minister announced he would stand down in March.

The ballot closes on Thursday but the two women considered front-runners to stand, Eluned Morgan and Hannah Blythyn, have ruled themselves out.

Vaughan Gething, the economy minister, has secured enough nominations from fellow MSs to appear on the ballot, and it's expected Jeremy Miles, the education minister, will declare his intention to stand next week.

Mr Drakeford told Politics Wales on Sunday: "It is a disappointment. I wish there was a woman on that list because I believe in offering choice to people in the party. And we've made it easier to get people on the ballot paper during the last five years."

He said there were many reasons that women are reluctant to put themselves forward, but denied that there was a problem with the "pipeline" of talent in the Welsh Labour party.

"It's a hard old world out there in politics and today, with social media and everything that you see, people that do put themselves forward know they will be a target - and a target, sometimes, for deeply, deeply unpleasant and personal attacks.

"We have 18 women and 12 men in the Labour group. There are hugely talented people there.

"Some of them are reasonably recently arrived in frontline politics and might need a bit longer to create that pipeline.

"It's one of the reasons why I am so committed to extending the size of the Senedd. A different pool of people will throw up new possibilities for the future.

"And I'm quite sure that a woman will want - not just to put themselves forward to be first minister - but we will see a woman as first minister in Wales, sometime while I'm still around to see it."

Mr Drakeford, 69, who is the Cardiff West Member of the Senedd (MS), had always planned to stand down in 2024, but the timing of Wednesday's announcement came as a surprise.

The new Welsh Labour leader is due to be elected before Easter.

Earlier on Sunday Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement it was a "disappointment" more has not been done to tackle child poverty since devolution.

He said the first decade of powers being transferred to Wales had seen child poverty reduced by a quarter but, since 2010, it had been a "struggle" to stop it growing.

Mr Drakeford said more could not be done to address child poverty without a Labour government in Westminster - the last of which was in 2010 before the Conservative-led coalition took power.

"We live in a country where so many basic things no longer function," he said adding that he believed a Labour government in Westminster would address the problem.

In response, the UK government said: "The Welsh government is receiving the largest funding settlement from the UK government in the history of devolution and for over 20 years has had significant powers to help reduce poverty.

"The UK government is providing support worth around £3,700 per household on average, including delivering up to £900 in cost of living payments to help the most vulnerable and increasing benefits by 6.7%."

Asked about his support for Sir Keir Starmer, he said the UK Labour leader had done "remarkably" and has a "different challenge" to what Mr Drakeford had as Welsh Labour leader.

Mr Drakeford said he had been first minister in a "country where the centre of political gravity is to the left of where it is across the whole of the United Kingdom".

"Keir Starmer has to win an election, gathering votes in parts of the United Kingdom where that isn't the tradition and, therefore, he has to go about it in a different sort of way," he said.

"I think they can take the wanted posters down," he told the programme.