It is expected his resignation will be formally accepted on Wednesday morning, before the new first minister is confirmed.
The 69-year-old has been in the role since December 2018 and is expected to remain a member of the Senedd until the next election in 2026.
He took part in his final First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) on Tuesday afternoon and received a standing ovation from members across the political divide.
“The advice to any performer is always to leave them wanting more,” he said.
“After this afternoon, everybody will be looking forward to hear quite a bit less from me, I’m sure of that.”
More on Cardiff
Related Topics:
Mr Drakeford said when he was elected it was “certainly impossible to predict the state of perma-crisis which we were about to enter”.
“I’m looking forward to continue to play my part from the back benches, to supporting the new first minister and the Welsh government,” he added.
Advertisement
Overcome with emotion, he thanked those with whom he worked, including civil servants and members of the Senedd.
“The last 12 months have been the hardest and the saddest of my life,” he said.
“People will not see beyond the chamber those small acts of kindness that happen every day, from people in every part of this chamber that help someone to get through those very, very difficult times.”
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies thanked Mr Drakeford for his leadership, which he said “benefited this country in coming through some of its darkest hours”.
“Thank you on behalf of the Welsh Conservatives for what you’ve done, both for me personally, but also for the country of Wales and for this institution and parliament,” he said.
“At a time of political challenges and the deepest personal adversity, Mark [Drakeford] brought thoughtfulness and good grace to public life at a time when such qualities were needed the most,” Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth added.
But Plaid Cymru, which is part of a co-operation agreement with Labour, has confirmed it will nominate its own leader for the position of first minister.
A party spokesperson told Sky News: “Plaid Cymru will nominate Rhun ap Iorwerth in the vote to elect a new first minister of Wales tomorrow.
“The math dictates that Vaughan Gething will secure a majority vote, but in the current political climate, questions about judgement and transparency requires alternative candidates to be considered.”
If approved as first minister by the Senedd, as expected, Mr Gething will become the first black leader of any European nation.
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino explained that if the hacking group was telling the truth, they would have asked for a ransom, but he “couldn’t find any request.”
The symbolism of Labour taking the West Midlands mayor, a jewel in the Tory crown, could be felt in the room as Labour activists gathered in Birmingham to celebrate the win with their new mayor Richard Parker and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
There are moments on election journeys when the momentum shifts – and this win felt like one of them.
“We humbly asked [the voters] to put their trust and confidence in a changed Labour Party and they did. And that is a significant piece of political history that we’ve made here today,” said Sir Keir at his victory rally.
“So the message out of these elections, the last now the last stop before we go into that general election, is that the country wants change.
“I hope the prime minister is listening and gives the opportunity to the country to vote as a whole in a general election as soon as possible.”
This win gave them the boost that was missing when they won the Blackpool South by-election on a massive 26-point swing, but then failed to pick up the hundreds of council seats they were chasing.
More on Conservatives
Related Topics:
This win, on just 1,508 votes or 0.25 per cent of the vote, was a body blow for a Conservative party that believed they could just about cling on. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, is now the last Tory standing.
For Labour, then a moment to bookmark.
Advertisement
Just as Boris Johnson’s Hartlepool by-election win in 2021 was a low point for Sir Keir – he told me this week that he considered resigning over the loss because he thought it showed he was the barrier to Labour’s recovery – this too will feel devastating not just for Andy Street but for the PM too.
Labour has beaten him in a street fight. He’s bloodied with Sir Keir now emboldened.
“This was the one result we really needed,” said one senior Labour figure. “It’s been our top focus for the past week and symbolically a very important win.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:32
Analysis of local election and mayoral results
And Labour needed the boost, because, as Professor Michael Thrasher pointed out in his Sky News’ national vote share projection calculated from the local election results, Sir Keir was not picking up the sort of vote share that Tony Blair was winning in the run-up to the 1997 Labour landslide.
His latest calculation of a 35% vote share for Labour and 26% for the Tories, put Sir Keir winning a general election but short of a majority.
What the West Midlands mayoral win did for Sir Keir was to give him a clear narrative that he is coming for the Tories and will do what he needs to take them down.
It raises inevitable questions about what is next for Rishi Sunak. The prime minister had nowhere to go today, not one win to celebrate. The worst performance in council elections in 40 years, was already pretty much as bad as it gets before the loss of Andy Street. The former Conservative mayor was magnanimous towards the prime minister, saying the loss was his alone.
But colleagues will not be so generous. One former cabinet minister said this loss was “devastating”. “We’re done and there’s no appetite to move against him,” said the senior MP. Many Tories tell me they are now resigned to defeat and believe Mr Sunak and his team needed to own it, rather than the rest of the party.
The coming days might be bumpy, the mood will be stony. But Tories tell me not much will actually change for them.
For Sir Keir, he now needs to sell not the changed Labour Party, but his vision for changing the country. The West Mids mayor’s win was dazzling, but it could have so easily gone the other way. And as Mr Sunak fights to survive, Labour still has to fight hard to win.