MARK Drakeford, who is being backed by all four North East Wales Assembly Members, will launch his bid to be the next Welsh Labour leader and First Minister today.

He describes himself as a “21st century socialist” and likens himself to his mentor, his former boss, the late First Minister Rhodri Morgan.

He will also make clear his solidarity with Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Professor Drakeford will also speak about the “distressing and draining” time members of the Labour group at the Assembly have faced since the death of Alyn and Deeside AM Carl Sargeant and makes clear the need to reunite and rally group members.

Prof Drakeford, who has the support of fellow cabinet members Lesley Griffiths (Wrexham) and Ken Skates (Clwyd South) and of Hannah Blythyn (Delyn) and Jack Sargeant (Alyn and Deeside) said: “If I am First Minister I want to lead a Wales where Government invests in the conditions in which wealth is created – investing in people and in places.

“But for me that is common wealth, the wealth to which everyone makes a contribution and from which the fruits are then shared out fairly for all.”

Looking back, he said: "Inside Government, for 10 years I worked in the office of the then First Minister Rhodri Morgan as his main special adviser.

“It provided me with a unique insight into what it takes to be a First Minister, the pressures which that office brings, and the possibilities it opens.

“Being First Minister is unlike any other job in Government and I know from the inside.

"Since becoming an Assembly member myself in 2011, I have been Labour’s Health Minister and today, I am the Minister for both Finance and Brexit.”

Looking ahead, the Cardiff AM added: “Whoever is the next First Minister will face the pressures caused by the longest and deepest period of austerity we have ever known.

“She or he will also take up office just at the point when the Brexit negotiations finally come to a head.

“Labour’s next First Minister will have to be able to grapple with those enormous challenges from the moment of election – there will be no time to learn on the job.

"Everything I have done in taking three budgets through the Assembly, and in dealing with Brexit since June 2016, make me as well prepared as possible to do this job on Labour’s behalf.”