Eluned Morgan made history back in August when she became the first woman to take on the role as First Minister. She had the difficult job of steadying a ship destined for the rocks under her predecessor Vaughan Gething, and has largely fulfilled that task. But, that was only her first job, and the rest hasn’t been easy.
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00:00Cast your minds back to the summer. The Welsh Government had been through genuine turmoil
00:06at the hands of Vaughan Gething, and the Welsh Labour Party were in need of a new leader
00:10after his resignation. This would be the second leadership race of the year, but only one
00:15name came forward, so it was quickly named Chief of the Party, and therefore would take
00:19over the role of First Minister after being officially named to the role on August 6th.
00:23It is the first honour of my life to stand before you today as the first woman to become
00:29the First Minister of Wales. Twenty-five years ago, we witnessed the dawn of a new era with
00:41the birth of devolution. This pivotal moment was the realisation of Welsh ambition.
00:48Eluned Morgan was a veteran Minister, having previously held the titles of Health Minister,
00:53Mental Health and Wellbeing Minister and Minister for International Relations, so her
00:57name was well known around the Senate. Her role was in a way simple, steady the ship
01:01and grow some stability back within the Welsh Government, which has arguably been her biggest
01:05achievement so far. In her first weeks in charge through the summer, she went on a listening
01:10tour of Wales, speaking to constituents about their concerns and said that the NHS was one
01:14of the biggest points people raised to her. And it's the NHS which has been her biggest
01:19hurdle so far to this short tenure. As a previous Health Minister, there was some
01:23hope that waiting times in particular would improve under her leadership, but for the
01:27tenth month in a row, waiting times are still breaking records across the board.
01:32With a Labour Government in Westminster and the Senedd, many thought that more could get
01:36done with a stronger relationship between the two Governments, but that has largely
01:39fallen flat, with opposition leaders continuously accusing Morgan of not using her position
01:44to bring things like HS2 funding and Crown Estate responsibilities to Wales.
01:49She's only six months into a difficult job and will have a further year or so until the
01:53next election, so her Government and her party will hope to be seeing more from her in the
01:57coming months.