Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the UK is ‘clear’ that there was Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.
He said that when he entered No 10 in the summer, he had asked whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 vote on whether to leave the EU and was given ‘the clear answer that yes, there was interference’.
The Prime Minister said he believes it is important to put this ‘clearly on the record’ to help voters in Germany and France understand that some politics are ‘instigated by enemies’ amid the rise of far-right parties.
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.
Mr Burnham, speaking to the Rest Is Politics podcast to be released on Monday, said he spoke to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz about the threat from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party when they met in Berlin this week.
Make sense of the mad world of British politics
Want to understand how what goes on in Westminster actually affects your life? Get analysis of what the biggest stories mean straight to your inbox every week. Sign up here.
As Mr Merz struggles with the challenge of recent regional election successes for the AfD, Mr Burnham said: ‘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.
‘You know, he was saying to me that the AfD are clearly linked to Russia, funded, I believe. There is certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics.’
Mr Burnham aimed Russian information warfare during a speech to the UN General Assembly last month, saying at the time there was evidence Moscow tried to interfere with the 2019 general election.
He told the podcast: ‘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.
‘These things are important now to put clearly on the record, and I believe it helps 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.’
Mr Burnham set out plans in his recent Labour conference speech to find political consensus on the UK’s future relationship with Brussels, and has left open the possibility of a future manifesto pledge to rejoin the bloc.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
MORE: Boy saved from bear attack after mobile phone exploded as he was mauled by predator
MORE: Seconds to spare: Video shows man narrowly escaping Russian drone strike near Kyiv