Questions now from the party leaders. The leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew R.T. Davies. 

Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, why is the economy Minister's judgment on accepting political donations more principled than yours? 

I don't think there's a difference in principle at all. I have been clear, as, indeed, have both of the leadership campaigns from the recent past, that all donations will be declared in accordance with all of the requirements. They've been registered and recorded, they're available, and we will deal with not just the rules for the contest, the legal requirements, but we'll carry on being open about what has happened and the future. My own party is undertaking a review following our recent leadership contest. It was a very harmonious and positive meeting of the Welsh executive of Welsh Labour, the Member will be delighted to know, and we have agreement on a way forward to look at both communications with members, campaign finance, nominations and, indeed, the length of the contest. And I look forward to that objective group of people coming back with their report.

Obviously, that's an internal investigation, First Minister. I think most people objectively looking at this would agree with the economy Minister's assertion on The Politics Show that he wouldn't have taken a donation from a company that has numerous criminal convictions against it for environmental infringements. The news came out over the weekend of a company that is in receipt of a £400,000 loan from an organisation at arm's length from the Welsh Government that you were the Minister responsible for, and has numerous planning applications, in particular a solar park, before the Welsh Government's Planning Inspectorate at the moment. I think a reasonable person, which is what the ministerial code talks of, would say that there is a potential conflict of interest there in your good self and the person who made this donation. Would you agree with me that a reasonable person would draw the same conclusions as the economy Minister? If he was offered that donation, he would have turned it down.

I think a reasonable person would be interested in the facts. Let me run through the facts about the issue that you've raised about DBW's support. The development bank has given the following factual statement: in 2023 it agreed a loan to Neal Soil Suppliers for £400,000 that funded the purchase of a solar park within the Vale of Glamorgan Constituency; that purchase has gone ahead and they are on track to repay that loan with interest in the five-year term agreed.

The development bank makes commercial loans and equity investments in small and medium businesses in Wales. Those lending and investment decisions are taken by the development bank, and they're wholly independent of Welsh Government Ministers. A reasonable person understanding the facts of the matter I don't think would then conclude that there is a conflict that exists.

Indeed, of course, within the ministerial code, there is the requirement to separate ministerial and constituency interests. The Member made reference to an application that may come before Welsh Ministers. As it's in my constituency, I cannot and will not have any part to play in that decision, a point that has been made very clearly by the housing, local government and planning Cabinet Secretary. I think a reasonable person would be interested in the facts.

I should also make clear that I believe that DBW is a Welsh success story. It has 11 active funds for business worth £1.2 billion, supporting more that 2,700 businesses across the country. When it comes to its commercial loan and equity investments, Ministers have not made a decision in any of those more than 2,700 investment choices.

This is having a real corrosive effect on the Government, as the silence of your own benches is showing here before everyone today. There cannot be any question that that reasonable person that you and I are referring to would draw the conclusion that the economy Secretary drew, that this donation should not have been accepted.

I said to you, First Minister, in a letter that the way to address this would be in the way that your predecessor did in 2017 when there were issues that were deflecting from the important work of Government—to appoint an independent adviser on the ministerial code to look at this and actually address these concerns that people have. Regrettably, this morning, you have sent me a letter saying you will not undertake that perfectly reasonable proposition of having an independent adviser to look into the suggestions that have been put around this donation.

I would prefer to be here questioning you today about the crisis in the cancer services across Wales that the director of Macmillan Wales highlighted in his comments on the weekend. I would urge you again, First Minister, given the severity of some of the assertions that have been made, and in particular the corrosive nature of those assertions, to look at the appointment of an independent adviser to address these concerns and provide you with what I hope is a clean bill of health—I genuinely hope that—so that you as First Minister, along with the rest of the Government, can get on with that important work of delivering on reducing the health waiting times, getting our economy moving and improving educational attainment across Wales. That is the agenda that the Government should be addressing, not week after week seeing these various bits of information appearing around the donations that were made to your leadership campaign, which the economy Secretary said he wouldn't have accepted.

Let's go back again to the facts. The donations have been declared for both leadership campaigns. When it comes to support provided by the Development Bank of Wales, it made an investment choice with a commercial loan more than a year ago, and that has gone into the purchase of an individual asset, and repayments are being made in line with the terms of that loan. All of those loan and equity investments to businesses in Wales are made independent of the Welsh Government by the Development Bank of Wales. Those are the facts. There is no reason to undertake an investigation when the facts are so clear and unambiguous. And I say again, the Development Bank of Wales is a Welsh success story. More than 2,700 businesses are supported by its activity. It makes those choices independently of the Welsh Government. And all of those issues will affect constituencies and regions across Wales represented by different Members in this Chamber. I'm very clear about the fact that those are the facts.

There is no reason to undertake an individual independent investigation simply on the basis of an Opposition press release. I agree with the Leader of the Opposition, though, that the really important business for the future of our country goes back to the priorities that I set out last week—the priorities facing families in every Constituency, people who are worried about whether they're going to be able to pay their Bills at the end of the month, people who have permanently seen a rise in their mortgage payments, thanks, of course, to what's happened over the last few years. This Government is focused on the reality of the cost-of-living crisis, the increased tax burden for working people, the reality that we do have more to do on a range of issues. That's why I'm so delighted that the talks started yesterday with the British Medical Association to help resolve industrial action. We will remain focused on the challenges that face Wales. That is the view of all Ministers in this Government. That is what Welsh Labour will be taking forward in our purpose—delivering for Wales. 

Leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth. 

Diolch, Llywydd. It's over a month now since the First Minister took office. This is his second scrutiny session. These questions just aren't going away, are they? We've had the sheer scale of the payments to his leadership campaign—£200,000. We've had the source of that money—a convicted polluter. Then we know that that company was in debt to the First Minister's own Government. Everybody in this Chamber should want to defend Welsh democracy from the harm those kinds of actions can cause. Now, with even Labour MSs speaking out, and a member of his own Government, his rival in the leadership contest, we know that most Senedd Members here believe he's shown poor judgment.

But so that we can understand, when the money was offered, did the First Minister ask who it was from, was told about the donor's criminal past and said, 'Ah, it doesn't matter, I'll take the money anyway', in which case, that raises fundamental questions of judgment, or was it that despite the scale of this donation, he didn't think to ask for proper due diligence? That would, again, be very poor judgment. Which was it?

All of the due diligence was undertaken about whether this was a permissible donor that money could be accepted from, and it was declared properly and it's on the record now. It's worth pointing out, actually, that for any of the donors to either of the leadership campaigns, there will be processes in place to make sure that those individuals cannot make choices about those businesses that have donated, and that's to make sure that the ministerial code is properly adhered to and that we don't have conflicts of interest. 

I'm very clear—and the Member made the point, again, made by the leader of the Conservatives—about the reality that the Development Bank of Wales had provided loan support, loan support provided without any reference to Welsh Government Ministers, no involvement in the process, with their own individual assessment of whether that loan should be provided, and it was used for the purpose that it was given—the purchase of a solar farm—and it's on track to be repaid within the term. I'm very comfortable that the Development Bank of Wales could and should run its own business without ministerial interference in individual loan and investment choices. That in itself would be a real problem, and one that I will not undertake.

The fact that you registered a donation from a convicted polluter doesn't make it good judgment to have accepted that donation. We've long associated Westminster with sleaze; that is not what we want here in Wales. In his acceptance speech, the new First Minister said he wanted to lead a country full of hope, ambition and unity. He can't even unite his own party on whether he was right or not, and I'm not surprised there's obvious unease on his own benches, front and back. 

Now, the revelation that Dauson is in debt to the Development Bank of Wales has raised concerns even more because it goes to the heart of Government operations, and the First Minister shouldn't here be deflecting this on to the Development Bank of Wales. We're not questioning the integrity of the Development Bank of Wales, we're questioning his integrity. The ministerial code is clear:

'Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their public duties and their private interests'.

Private interest, in this case, would be a leadership contest for the Labour Party.

'Ministers should not accept any gift or hospitality which might, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgement'.

Now, I believe that that threshold has been reached, and it's why I wrote to the permanent Secretary, asking for a full independent inquiry and for the findings to be made public. Now, given the public, I think, would have little confidence in the First Minister himself acting as judge and jury in his own case, would he agree on the need for an inquiry to be independent?

Well, let's go back to the facts: when it comes to the choice made by DBW—and you are questioning the choice—the choice is made independently by the—[Interruption.] The choice is made independently by the development bank. It independently decides whether to invest or not, and that is entirely separate from any choice made by a Welsh Government Minister. If a Welsh Government Minister doesn't have any engagement or involvement in the choice, it's hard to see how there is a conflict. And more than that, of course, this is a business within my Constituency, and the ministerial code is crystal clear that I cannot make choices about businesses within my constituency. It's therefore difficult to see where there is a reason or evidence to support an independent investigation. And, in fact, as we've been through last week, it's a regular feature that Ministers have to separate out their own constituency interests. It happens, for example, when submissions are made around Celsa Steel UK, based in my constituency—I cannot and do not make choices around them. It's exactly the same for other businesses if there is an issue where a Welsh Minister needs to make a choice.

And when it comes to the future, I've been crystal clear about the support for a new environmental governance regime, increasing standards for what we expect of businesses and their environmental footprint. That remains a commitment of this Government; I look forward to that coming into legislation during this term.

And when it comes to unity, the Welsh executive committee of Welsh Labour has been very united—a very positive meeting took place on Saturday. There's unity about the process we're undertaking, moving forward, and, indeed, the focus on the priorities I set out last week: the families who are interested in whether they can pay their Bills at the end of the month, and the businesses that are worried about whether they're going to have the sort of future and stability in the Government they want to see at a Welsh and a UK level. The challenge is over a different frame of investment in our public services and support for the economy. Those are the priorities that this Government will continue to focus on, and all Members of our Government will continue to do so.

Perhaps it's because people are struggling financially that they can't understand why this First Minister is so flippant about a gift of £200,000. And for the record, I'm not questioning a decision made by the Development Bank of Wales; the choice that we're talking about here was the choice of the First Minister to accept or not accept that money.

Now, the First Minister has now commissioned one of his predecessors, Carwyn Jones, to undertake a review of the rules surrounding donations in its leadership contests. In the interests of transparency, it's regrettable that the First Minister chose a party insider rather than somebody unaffiliated to Labour to do that review, but at least there is hope that Carwyn Jones won't pull his punches, having previously called the donations 'unfortunate' and claiming that the First Minister has lessons to learn.

Now, the last First Minister told me in this Chamber that the Labour leadership contest was none of my business. I think all of this shows it is all of our business. It's ultimately the Labour Party that chose this First Minister, so in that context, will he commit to making the findings of that review public?

There are two things. The first is I'm glad the Member has made clear now that he does not challenge the DBW decision. That accepts the objectivity of that decision and the lack of any kind of influence of Welsh Ministers. If you don't accept that, you can't say you're not challenging the decision and the facts about how it independently comes to investment choices. And if, actually, you recognised there is no challenge around its choice, it's hard to see how there is a reason to investigate that. What is there to be investigated if you accept there is no challenge to the decision? If you don't like the way that donations are provided within the contest, well that's a different issue, and that's nothing to do with DBW's choice.

When you look at what we are able to do, I think it is important that my party undertakes a process after the leadership contest, to learn lessons and to move forward. It'll be a decision for the Welsh executive committee, when it receives the report, about what it publishes. I have no doubt at all that it will be in the public domain. In the meantime, and even after that, I look forward to the challenges and the opportunities that this year presents: the challenges that we face with a current UK Government that is not a friend of Wales; the opportunity to argue for an entirely different future, opportunities that you will hear set out again today—last week by Huw Irranca-Davies in his new brief; today, you'll hear from the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, and indeed the economy and energy Secretary, setting out what we are looking to do within the rest of this year, and the opportunities for the future to create the better Wales that this Government is committed to delivering.