Morgan, who is also Welsh Labour leader and the party’s lead Senedd candidate in the Ceredigion Penfro constituency where the site is located, made the intervention in a Facebook video ahead of the Senedd election on 7 May.
The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) programme — announced jointly by the UK, US and Australia in 2023 — would see 27 radar dishes installed at Cawdor Barracks in Brawdy, with the site becoming the UK’s main contribution to the international scheme. As Swansea Bay News previously reported, the project was expected to create up to 100 long-term jobs and keep the barracks open beyond its planned closure date of 2028.
Morgan said the project should be “halted,” adding that the United States under Trump was “not the partner it once was.” She said talk of targeting civilians, undermining allies and diminishing the sacrifices of armed forces personnel was “not the conduct of a reliable ally.”
She drew a distinction between standing with partners and “giving a free pass to a US president who has threatened war crimes and shown contempt for our country,” and said the UK should pause its involvement in the radar project “until we can be confident those partnerships reflect our values and our security interests.”
Her intervention immediately drew criticism from across the political spectrum. Plaid Cymru accused Morgan of making a “last ditch attempt” to save her Senedd seat, while Reform said she was trying to distract from her record in government.
The Welsh Conservatives went further, alleging that Morgan was willing to put the UK’s national security at risk. Henry Tufnell, the Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, also broke ranks, saying he was concerned that Morgan apparently did not want the jobs the scheme had promised for the area.
Downing Street declined to say whether the prime minister agreed with the first minister’s position. A No 10 spokesperson said the programme “will secure long-term jobs in Pembrokeshire and Wales, and help protect essential satellite communication.”
The Ministry of Defence has been progressing plans to refurbish an airfield at Cawdor Barracks to house the UK’s DARC infrastructure. The scheme has faced opposition from local campaigners, who have raised concerns about its proximity to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
The campaign group PARC Against DARC, which launched in May 2024, has been at the forefront of local opposition. The group — which counts CND, Stop the War Coalition and Extinction Rebellion UK among its national supporters — has raised concerns about the visual impact of 27 large radar dishes on the Pembrokeshire coastline, potential health risks from radiofrequency signals, and damage to tourism in an area that includes the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
A petition against the plans gathered more than 16,000 signatures, and the campaign has drawn significant cross-party political backing — with Plaid Cymru voting unanimously at its 2024 conference to officially oppose DARC, and an Early Day Motion tabled in Westminster attracting cross-party support.
The campaign also draws a direct parallel with a successful predecessor. Pembrokeshire Against Radar Campaign — known as PARC — was formed in 1990 to oppose a proposed over-the-horizon radar installation on the Dewisland peninsula. After 2,000 people marched from St Davids Cathedral to the proposed site, the Conservative government cancelled the project in 1991. Some of the original PARC campaigners are now active in the new fight against DARC.
The group has also specifically targeted Henry Tufnell over his silence on the issue, accusing the Mid and South Pembrokeshire MP of ignoring hundreds — possibly thousands — of constituent emails on the subject. That makes his public criticism of Morgan’s position all the more striking: having said nothing while his constituents demanded answers, Tufnell chose the first minister’s intervention as the moment to speak up — in defence of the scheme.
The DARC programme is designed to detect and track objects in deep space up to 22,000 miles from Earth, operating as a global network of three ground-based radar systems run jointly by the UK, US and Australia. The unique geographic spread of the three nations was cited as key to providing continuous global coverage, including the ability to detect potential threats to defence and civilian space systems.
Morgan’s comments place her at odds not only with opposition parties but with her own Labour colleagues in Westminster, creating an unusual internal divide just weeks before the Welsh Parliament election.
The Ceredigion Penfro seat, which covers the area around Brawdy and Cawdor Barracks, is expected to be one of the more competitive constituencies on 7 May, with Plaid Cymru also fielding a strong candidate in the area.
The UK government has not indicated any intention to pause or review the DARC project. No formal response has been issued by the Ministry of Defence to Morgan’s comments.
Whether Morgan’s intervention resonates with local voters — who were promised significant economic benefits from the scheme — or is seen as a political gamble in a tight election race, remains to be seen.
What is clear is that a project announced with cross-party support as a landmark moment for Pembrokeshire’s defence economy has now become one of the most politically charged issues of the Welsh election campaign.
