A former Labour minister has broken her silence over her sudden sacking by Vaughan Gething in May.

In a dramatic statement, Hannah Blythyn told the Senedd she has never leaked to the media.

The first minister had alleged that she was the source of a story which revealed Mr Gething told ministers he was deleting messages from a pandemic-era group chat.

But the Labour MS for Delyn said she was not shown any evidence before she was sacked, was not told she was being investigated, and that the situation left her with acute anxiety and stress.

The Welsh government has declined to comment.

Ms Blythyn was absent from a vote of no confidence that Mr Gething lost in May – colleagues had said she was ill at the time.

“I know that I can look all my colleagues who sit on these [Labour] benches in the eye and say that I have never leaked or briefed the media about any of you,” she said.

The personal statement from Ms Blythyn was a surprise addition to the Senedd agenda on Tuesday, coming before a statement on Mr Gething’s legislative programme.

Ms Blythyn began her statement saying there had been times recently where she was unsure “I would or could stand or speak” in the Senedd debating chamber again.

“Whilst I will not share the detail, I will share that I have formally raised concerns about the process by which I was removed from government, including not being shown any alleged evidence before being sacked, not being made aware that I was ever under investigation and that at no point was I advised or was it evidenced that I may have broken the ministerial code.”

She said she recognised it was “within the gift of any first minister to appoint and remove members of their government”.

But she said she had “very real concerns that lessons have not been learned from the past”.

She said there had been “speculation about my circumstances and well I have been well enough to work”.

“This has ranged from what was tantamount to misinformation, and what can be put down to misunderstanding”.

“It should not be surprising that what happened has been hugely detrimental to me on a personal level, and led to acute anxiety and stress.”

“I have never been signed off work and I have struggled with this in itself, but there was a point when the thought of just putting my camera on to vote and seeing you literally took my breath away.”

Referring to a radio programme called Broken Politicians, Broken Politics, which Labour colleague Lee Waters contributed to, she said: “I am not broken, but I now know more than I did before that I am breakable, as actually we all are”.

“We’ve talked about often in this place a kinder politics – but we cannot have a kinder politics without kinder people.

“We won’t get to better politics without being better people.”

“It has been a privilege to serve in my country’s government, particularly under the leadership of Mark Drakeford,” she added.

She added that a “a younger me who struggled with her sexuality would never ever have believed that one day I would spearhead plans to make Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe”.