Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said. He said that after entering “Downing Street“ in July he asked for an assessment of Moscow's possible involvement and received an affirmative answer.
“When I arrived at “Downing Street“, I asked the question: was there Russian interference in the 2016 referendum? "I got a clear answer: yes, there was," Burnham said on the podcast “The Rest is Politics“.The prime minister did not specify who provided him with this assessment, what evidence it was based on or whether the interference changed the outcome of the vote. In the referendum, Britons chose to leave the European Union.
Difference from the previous position
Burnham's statement differs from the position of previous Conservative governments. They have maintained that there was no evidence of successful Russian interference in the referendum, without denying the existence of attempts at influence.
The 2020 report by the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee criticized the government and British intelligence services for not sufficiently investigating Moscow's possible role. The committee said ministers had not sought a full assessment of Russian actions, despite evidence of attempts to influence through Russian state-backed media outlets and social media accounts.
The report did not find that Russian interference determined the outcome of the referendum. The main question that remains unanswered publicly since Burnham's statement is whether this was an influence operation that reached the British public debate, or whether it had a proven impact on the vote itself.
Minister: Attempt failed
On 12 October, Foreign Secretary Stephen Doughty told Sky News that Russia had tried to interfere but had failed. According to him, the Minister of Security Dan Jarvis has already been clear that attempts to influence have been made, but they have not achieved their goal.
The statements of the Prime Minister and the Minister thus draw a distinction between the presence of Russian interference and evidence that it changed the result of the referendum. Burnham has not publicly claimed that Moscow caused the victory of the camp for leaving the European Union.
The Prime Minister called on the UK to be more open about the actions of hostile states against democratic processes. He said that such facts should be established in a timely manner so that voters in France and Germany understand how foreign powers can promote political processes in Europe.
Burnham also pointed to the 2019 parliamentary elections in the UK, stating that there is evidence of attempts by Moscow to interfere in them as well. On this issue, as well as for the 2016 referendum, no further details about the specific evidence have been publicly presented.
Sources: news.bg, theguardian.com, news.sky.com