UK PM Andy Burnham says it’s clear Russia interfered in 2016 Brexit referendum, warns of similar activities in France
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said it is clear that Russia interfered with Britain’s Brexit referendum to leave the European Union. Burnham warned that similar activities were taking place in France and Germany, news agency AP said.
Burnham told ‘The Rest is Politics’ podcast that upon arriving in 10 Downing Street, he had asked about possible Russian interference in the 2016 vote.
“I’ve had the clear answer that, yes, there was,” Burnham said, according to the BBC. The excerpts from the podcast were released on Sunday.
10 Downing Street is the official residence and executive office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
“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 added.
Moscow’s activity during the Brexit referendum
Burnham did not provide further details about the type or extent of Moscow’s activity during the Brexit referendum. In his interview, due to be released on Monday, Burnham said he had discussed the problem of Russian interference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz during his visit to Germany earlier this week.
“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,” he said according to the excerpts.
Russia has long said it does not meddle in other countries’ elections or referendums. It is, however, for the first time when a UK PM has said Russia sought to sway the 2016 Brexit poll.
In 2020, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee published a report into Russian interventions in UK elections and referendums.
Burnham’s comments come as UK intelligence agencies warn about the increasing threat of Russian interference in Britain’s democratic institutions. The intervention is believed to be the first time a British prime minister has publicly acknowledged Russian interference in the Brexit vote.
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.
‘Undermines legitimacy of the decision’
Britain Unbound, a pro-Brexit campaign group, was quoted by BBC saying that Burnham’s comments were “another crude attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the decision that the British people made in 2016”.
The group said that the foreign interference in UK elections was “obviously unacceptable.”
“There is no good reason to believe that Russian intervention influenced the outcome of the referendum in 2016. It is also insulting to suggest that voters were so easily duped,” it said.
What was the 2016 Brexit move?
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a vote on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 to ask the electorate whether the country should continue to remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU).
The result was a vote in favour of leaving the EU, triggering calls to begin the process of the country’s withdrawal, commonly termed ‘Brexit’.
“I’ve had the clear answer that, yes, there was,” Burnham said.
The UK officially left the EU on January 31, 2020, becoming the first member state to ever withdraw. A transition period lasted until December 31, 2020, after which the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement took effect to govern future economic and security relations.
(With inputs from AP and BBC)
