Questions have been raised over Russia’s involvement in the 2016 Brexit referendum after Andy Burnham claimed it was “clear” Moscow had interfered with the vote.
Mr Burnham became the first prime minister to confirm Russia had interfered with the referendum as he revealed over the weekend he had asked about potential meddling upon his arrival to No 10 this summer.
He said the UK and its allies had been “too much on the back foot” when confronting Russian interference and “haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas”.
The comments have raised concerns over the outcome of the Brexit referendum and Britain’s vulnerability to Russian interference.
Here is what we know:
What did Andy Burnham say?
The prime minister told The Rest Is Politics podcast he had spoken to the German chancellor Friedrich Merz about the influence of Russia during a recent visit to Berlin.
“There is certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics," he said.
“But I asked the question coming to Downing Street: was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?
“And I've had the clear answer that yes, there was.
“I mean, these things are important now to put clearly on the record and help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia.”
What happened and did it impact Brexit?
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee found in 2020 that the government failed to fully assess the impact Russian state-run media and “troll” accounts could have had on the EU referendum
But speaking to Times Radio on Monday, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty declined to provide details of what form Russian interference took in 2016 and whether it had been successful.
He said: “I’m not going to get into the specifics of Russia’s actions against the UK, but what is clear is that Russia is attempting to interfere in democratic processes, not just in the UK but across Europe.”
Mr Doughty added that Russia was spending £1.5 billion on disinformation this year and called for a “whole of society effort” to respond to the threat Moscow poses to British democracy.
Asked whether interference could have changed the result of the 2016 referendum, he said: “The result is the result, and I think the prime minister has been very clear that he’s talking about attempts to interfere.
“The security minister has spoken about this before. I’m confident that both the British people and the British state are able to respond to and defend against these types of threats, but we need to be very honest that those threats exist.”
Later, Mr Doughty told LBC he did not think Russia’s attempts to interfere in the referendum had been successful.
“We know what the result was. I don’t think they’ve succeeded in their efforts.“I don’t think they’ve succeeded in their efforts to undermine our elections,” he said.
“The security minister’s been very clear that they’ve attempted but not succeeded, in his evidence that he gave previously on this.
“But the fact is that they are attempting to interfere, and we all need to be alert to that and respond accordingly.”
What now?
Speaking at the UN general assembly in New York last month, Mr Burnham hit out at Russian interference and has vowed to tackle it.
He said: “We have evidence that they tried to interfere with the 2019 general election. We also know that they have tried to stoke tensions and unrest in the wake of horrific events.”
Pro-EU campaigners have called for Britain to restore its EU membership in light of the revelation, and said it is important to have “public confirmation” of suspected interference.
“We have suspected for years that the 2016 referendum could have been subjected to interference because of how its result helped destabilise a united Europe,” Richard Kilpatrick, from European Movement UK said. “Disinformation played a role at the time and it is important to have this public confirmation of those suspicions.”
Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain said: “What is now more vital than ever is that pro-Europeans make it unmistakably clear: there is only one option on the table that could begin to repair that damage, and it’s restoring our EU membership and putting the UK back at the heart of Europe, as soon as possible.”
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