Andy Burnham has said it is clear that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum, having sought answers about the Kremlin’s role in the vote after entering Downing Street.
Burnham said he asked whether Moscow had tried to influence the referendum and was given confirmation that it had.
Speaking on the podcast The Rest is Politics, he said: “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.”
The comments represent a marked break with the stance of previous Conservative governments, which maintained that no evidence existed of successful Russian interference in the referendum.
Burnham did not say who had supplied the assessment, what evidence it was based on, or whether any interference had altered the outcome of the vote.
2020 committee findings
A report published in 2020 by parliament’s intelligence and security committee rebuked the government and the intelligence agencies for failing to investigate potential Russian interference in the referendum properly.
The cross-party committee concluded that ministers had not sought a full assessment of Moscow’s activities, even though evidence pointed to attempts to influence British politics via Russian state-backed media outlets and social media accounts.
It noted that the government had produced no post-referendum assessment of Russian interference efforts, in contrast with the investigation carried out in the United States following the 2016 presidential election.
The committee also stated that whether a hostile state had tried to influence a democratic process mattered regardless of whether those attempts had succeeded.
Calls for greater openness
Burnham said Britain ought to be more candid about efforts by hostile states to interfere in its politics, especially as European leaders contend with the rise of the far right.
Last month the prime minister used a speech to the UN general assembly to attack Russian information warfare, saying there was evidence Moscow had attempted to interfere with the 2019 general election.
He told the podcast: “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.
“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.”
Burnham said he had discussed the danger posed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, during a visit to Berlin this week, and that Merz had raised concerns about the party’s ties to Russia.
“One thing I did say to Chancellor Merz … is we need to support you in taking on the threat that you face and particularly the type of politics that you’re facing,” he said. “You know, he was saying to me that the AfD are clearly linked to Russia – funded, I believe.”
He added: “There is certainly misinformation, disinformation, that is emanating from Russia into German politics.”
Last month Burnham opened the door to Britain eventually rejoining the EU, saying his government would examine all options for the country’s future relationship with Brussels.
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