Welsh Government spends hundreds of thousand of pounds attending arms fairs

Martin Shipton

The Welsh Government spent almost £300,000 attending controversial arms fairs over a recent four-year period, Freedom of Information requests have revealed.

Academic researcher Dr Greg Davies, based at Liverpool University, put in the requests as part of some work he is doing on the Welsh Government’s role within the defence sector in Wales.

He told Nation.Cymru: “I’ve learned through FoI requests that the Welsh Government has spent almost £300,000 attending one of the world’s largest arms fairs, Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), since 2020. It attended DSEI in London in 2021, 2023 and 2025, and also went to DSEI Japan in 2025.

“This is likely to be of significant interest to Nation.Cymru’s readership, for several reasons:

* The Welsh Government’s attendance at this conference has proven politically contentious in the past;

* The UK and Welsh governments are actively pursuing plans to expand the defence sector in Wales; and

* Welsh Government support for defence firms is facing heightened scrutiny following revelations that it awarded a large grant to a firm linked to Israel last July.

In 2021 the BBC reported how the Welsh Government had decided to attend the DSEI event following a review into whether the administration should continue going to it.

Plaid Cymru criticised the Welsh Labour government for spending public money on “this contemptible event”, but the Welsh Conservatives said it was right for officials to go.

Aerospace Wales, a trade association, received financial support from the Welsh Government to attend the arms fair.

The Conservative UK government had invited 62 countries to DSEI, including countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Colombia, which were on the government’s 2019 human rights watch list.

Speaking at the time, First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would review his government’s presence at future events, but said officials were present “to support important Welsh companies that operate, not directly in the arms area, but in other issues, such as cyber security”.

The Welsh Government later confirmed that Radnor Range, a weapons and explosives testing range, was one of the companies on its stand.

The FoI disclosure to Dr Davies states that the Welsh Government spent £296,940.92 on attending four DSEI fairs between 2021-25.

Dr Davies said: “It is known from previous news reports that the Welsh Government also spent £95,201.28 attending DSEI in 2019.

“In total, it therefore appears to have spent almost £400,000 on attending DSEI fairs since 2019 (£392,142.20).

“A BBC report suggests that the Welsh Government attended DSEI in 2017 and 2015 as well. It is clearly a long-standing practice, and one which has continued without interruption under four different First Ministers.

“In response to criticism of its involvement with DSEI, the Welsh Government said that it would conduct a review of its attendance back in 2021. I could not locate a copy of the review. I asked the Welsh Government for a summary of the review’s conclusions, in another FoI. The response simply states: ‘The conclusion of our review was that the importance of the aerospace and defence sectors in Wales and previous economic outputs justified Welsh Government presence at DSEI’.

‘Contemptible’

However Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on international affairs, said: “Plaid Cymru condemns any action that supports the development and sale of weapons of mass destruction.

“The Welsh government should be working to prevent such action, but instead are putting public money towards the continued support of this contemptible event.”

Last month a new Wales Regional Defence and Security Cluster was launched, enabling Welsh businesses, universities and colleges to access opportunities in the growing defence sector.

The cluster brings together organisations including small businesses and global prime contractors to strengthen Wales’s defence supply chain, develop new technologies, and create skilled, well-paid jobs.

Wales’ combined defence and aerospace sector directly employs 16,000 people, has a turnover of £3.7bn and contributes approximately £1.5bn in gross value added (GVA) to the Welsh economy.

The launch followed the signing of the Wales Defence Growth Deal Memorandum of Understanding, which allocates £50m to Wales from a £250m UK-wide investment in regional defence growth.

The Wales Defence Growth Deal focuses on autonomous capabilities, drawing on existing Welsh strengths in opto-electronics, cyber security and semiconductors.

The UK Government has committed to increasing defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027–28, rising to 5% of GDP on national security by 2035, creating, it says, significant new opportunities for Welsh businesses.

Israel 

However, in July last year First Minister Eluned Morgan was accused of misleading the Senedd following a revelation that the Welsh Government had funded a weapons supplier that exports arms to Israel.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Amnesty International UK found that Welsh ministers gave £500,000 in grant funding to Senior – a company that exports military equipment directly to Israel.

Weapons exported by the company include component parts for F-35 fighter jets and Apache gunships.

In December 2024, Baroness Morgan told the Senedd: “No Welsh Government financial support has been provided to companies in Wales who export arms to Israel since the 7 October attacks.”

But Amnesty International says this is not the case and has condemned the Welsh Government for awarding public funds to build weapons despite public assurances.

Glenn Page, Amnesty International’s Government and Political Relations Manager in Wales, said: “The Welsh Government has quietly funded a company supplying weapons to Israel – despite mounting evidence of war crimes and genocide being committed by Israel against Palestinian people in Gaza.

“This directly contradicts what the First Minister told the public. It’s deeply concerning that we only know this because of FOI requests – not because of transparency from the Welsh Government.

“Public money must never help fuel war crimes. There must be full transparency and accountability, beginning with an urgent, long-overdue review of public funding and investment, and the immediate introduction of a robust framework for human rights due diligence.”

‘Shocking’

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth described the revelation as “both shocking and shameful” and accused the First Minister of misleading the Senedd.

We asked the Welsh Government at the time if the First Minister had deliberately misled the Senedd.

A spokesperson did not answer the question directly, but said: “Senior UK is an automotive company based near Caerphilly manufacturing parts for electric vehicles, including buses.

“We provided a grant for them to renovate a building on the site in Crumlin which is expected to create and safeguard over 50 automotive jobs in the area.”