We must listen after turmoil, says Labour minister

The man poised to be deputy head of the Welsh government has said it must focus on what matters to people after the "turmoil" that led to First Minister Vaughan Gething's resignation.

Huw Irranca-Davies said Welsh Labour needed to speak to voters directly "and take a bit of flak as well".

The climate change and rural affairs secretary stood on a "t unity ticket" with Eluned Morgan, who will be confirmed as new first minister on 6 August.

Plaid Cymru would not say if it will help Labour its budget, but warned that the ruling party must stop "rowing back on ambition", and Conservatives said "the focus must shift now to the people's priorities".

The Ogmore Member of the Senedd (MS) is due to become deputy to Ms Morgan, who was elected unopposed as Welsh Labour's first female leader last week.

She has apologised to the people of Wales after the upheaval which saw Mr Gething announce he was quitting after just four months in charge.

Mr Gething was beset by controversies from the start, including accepting £200,000 for his leadership campaign from a man twice convicted of environmental offences, and dismissing a minister he accused of leaking information.

Mr Irranca-Davies told BBC Wales' Sunday Supplement: "There’s been a lot of turmoil in the [Labour] group, there's been a lot of inward looking to try to resolve issues.

"And really what the public want... is for us to focus on the things that matter to them."

He said Ms Morgan was right to apologise, and the public "switch off" from a party "constantly dealing with its own issues".

"The public say, 'Well, what’s going on":[]}