The UK government ‘actively avoided’ investigating Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum

The UK government failed to investigate potential Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to a long-awaited report into the Kremlin’s influence in British politics and society.

The report by the Intelligence & Security Committee (ISC) suggests that ministers “had not seen orsought evidence of successful interference” in Brexit.

The report says that there was an “extreme caution” among UK security agencies to investigate potential Russian interference in the 2016 referendum, and that their reluctance was “illogical.”

ISC member and member of Parliament Stewart Hosie on Tuesday said the government had “actively avoided” investigating the matter, adding that there had been “no assessment of Russian interference in the EU referendum and that goes back to nobody wanting to touch this issue with a ten-foot pole.”

He said the ISC found it “astonishing” that the UK government didn’t seek to “protect the referendum” by looking into potential Russian interference.

Commenting on suggestions that Russia interfered in the referendum, the report says: “We have not been provided with any post-referendum assessment of Russian attempts at interference.”

“This situation is in stark contrast to the US handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, where an intelligence community assessment was produced within two months of the vote, with an unclassified summary being made public.”

Labour MP Kevan Jones, another committee member, said the government had “clearly let us down” after failing to investigate interference in the referendum after there was evidence of Russian interference in both the US presidential election of 2016 and Scottish independence referendum of 2014.

The 50-page report calls for a full, retrospective assessment into whether Russia interfered in the referendum.

“Even if the conclusion of any such assessment were that there was minimal interference, this would nonetheless represent a helpful reassurance to the public that the UK’s democratic processes had remained relatively safe,” it says.

The UK government rejected this call in its response to the report.

“A retrospective assessment of the EU referendum is not necessary,” it said.

The UK government was led by David Cameron in the run-up to the referendum before he was replaced as UK prime minister by Theresa May.

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