Burnham confirms Russia interfered in the Brexit vote

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Burnham made the comments on The Rest is Politics podcast, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, after asking about the Kremlin’s role when he entered Downing Street.

“I asked the question coming to Downing Street: well, was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia? I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was,” said Burnham.

His position breaks with previous Conservative governments, which maintained they had seen no evidence of successful Russian interference in the referendum.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee published its long-delayed Russia report in July 2020. The cross-party committee criticised the government and the intelligence agencies for failing to properly assess whether Moscow had tried to influence the vote.

The committee said the government had not sought evidence of interference after the referendum. It contrasted this with the investigation the US carried out after Russian meddling in its 2016 presidential election.

Then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in July 2020 that Russian actors had almost certainly sought to interfere in the 2019 general election. He said they did this by amplifying leaked UK-US trade documents online.

Burnham also cited evidence of Russian interference in the 2019 election during his speech to the UN General Assembly in September.

“These things are important now to put clearly on the record and I believe help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia,” said Burnham.

“I think we’ve been too much on the back foot on that, actually, and we haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas,” he said.

Burnham said he discussed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on a recent visit to Berlin. He said Merz raised concerns about the party’s links to Russia.

“There is certainly misinformation, disinformation, that is emanating from Russia into German politics,” said Burnham.

The UK government is developing a new National Centre for Information Defence to detect and disrupt hostile state information campaigns targeting British democracy. Downing Street said it is also working with Germany on a new partnership to counter hybrid threats.

“National security is the first duty of any government – we are focused on ensuring our citizens and our institutions are protected from foreign powers and their proxies seeking to threaten lives and undermine our democratic values,” said a Downing Street spokesperson.

Burnham said last month that his government would examine all options for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, including eventually rejoining.

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