Activists accuse Plaid Cymru of deceit in ‘arms fair’ row

Martin Shipton

Anti-war campaigners have raised concerns that Plaid Cymru MSs may have misled constituents who called for the Welsh Government to withdraw its sponsorship from what critics have dubbed an “arms fair”.

Organisers of the Defence Security Resilience Cymru summit in Newport on September 3 and 4 said it aimed to “connect buyers, suppliers and innovators across defence, security and national resilience” and help businesses benefit from increased defence spending, but the event attracted controversy over the involvement of companies linked to arms exports to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

In a standard email reply, multiple Plaid Cymru MSs told constituents that the Welsh Government could not withdraw because of contractual obligations agreed by the previous Labour administration.

Appearing on Radio Wales Breakfast on September 3, Health Minister Mabon ap Gwynfor also said the more than £60,000 sponsorship was “part of the agreement” made by the previous Labour government. “You have to respect agreements,” he said.

But campaigners have now pointed to the Welsh Government’s own procurement record on its Sell2Wales website, which gives August 24, 2026, as the estimated date for signing the sponsorship contract – more than three months after Plaid Cymru took office.

They argue this means the Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government could have withdrawn from the event, but instead chose to use public money to sponsor it.

Adam Johannes, joint secretary of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, said he wrote to his three Plaid Cymru MSs – Dafydd Trystan Davies, Zaynub Akbar and Nick Carter – last month asking them to join calls for the Welsh Government to withdraw from the event.

He said: “On August 24 came the reply, sent on behalf of all three by Welsh Government Minister Dafydd Trystan Davies, former chief executive and chair of Plaid Cymru. The explanation was admirably bureaucratic: ‘It is not possible to withdraw from the Newport event due to contractual obligations agreed to by the previous Welsh Labour Government.’”

Mr Johannes said identical replies were sent to campaigners in north Wales by their Plaid representatives, which he argued gave the impression that the previous Labour government had already entered into a legally binding contract.

He said Plaid appeared to be suggesting it was being forced to honour a commitment it could not escape.

But Mr Johannes questioned that explanation after examining the Welsh Government’s procurement record.

He said: “The Welsh Government’s own procurement record gives August 24 as the likely date on which the sponsorship contract would be signed. August 24. The very same day Dafydd Trystan Davies emailed me telling me Plaid Cymru couldn’t withdraw because of a contract supposedly entered into by the previous Labour Government.

“Many will now be asking whether the Plaid Cymru Welsh Government had any obligation to sponsor the event at all. Or did they simply make a political choice to get down and dirty with the global arms trade and back an arms fair? If an earlier binding agreement exists, where is it?”

Campaigners say they are also raising the issue in light of the new Senedd Code of Conduct, approved in March 2026, which states that Members must act truthfully and must not make deliberately misleading statements.

Senedd Commissioner for Standards

Mr Johannes said: “I would urge anyone who received a similar email from a Plaid Cymru elected representative to consider writing to the Senedd Commissioner for Standards and ask whether their MS complied with the requirement to act truthfully and not make deliberately misleading statements when implying participation in the arms fair was required by a contractual commitment entered into by the previous administration.”

Adam Price, the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, has sought to fend off criticism by saying that the Plaid Cymru government is in the process of drafting a new Welsh Defence Ethical Framework. He is due to make a statement in the Senedd about the framework on the afternoon of September 22.

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