VAUGHAN Gething, Wales’ economy minister, became the first of two men to declare they wanted to be the next first minister of Wales.

As voting opens in the Welsh Labour leadership race, here is everything you need to know about him.

Mr Gething became involved in politics at a young age, having joined the Labour Party at 17 to help campaign in the 1992 elections.

He has been a Member of the Senedd (MS) since 2011 and has sat in the cabinet since 2016.

He rose to prominence as health minister throughout the pandemic, a post he held from 2016 to 2021.

Mr Gething was born in Zambia in 1974, where his father, a Welsh vet from Ogmore-by-Sea in Glamorgan, met his mother, a chicken farmer.

He has spoken openly about his experiences of prejudice and said in his campaign material he does not want anyone in Wales to feel that way.

When he was two his family moved to Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, where his father was due to start a new job, but the offer was withdrawn when he arrived with a black family.

After his father lost his job in Abergavenny, the family moved to Dorset in England, and he later studied law at Aberystwyth University.

He unsuccessfully stood for the Mid and West Wales seat at the first National Assembly elections in 1999, before becoming councillor for the Butetown area of Cardiff in 2004.

He stood for the Senedd elections again in 2011, when he successfully took the Cardiff South and Penarth Seat.

This is the second time he has run for the top job, having stood in 2018 against Mark Drakeford.