Burnham: “clear answer” that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum, the first British prime minister to say so publicly

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has become the first head of government in the United Kingdom to say publicly that Russia interfered in the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union. He made the remarks on the popular political podcast The Rest Is Politics, in an episode due for release on Monday, October 12, and they were reported on Sunday, October 11, by RTÉ.

“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,” said Burnham, who became prime minister in July.

The message to Germany and France

Burnham explained why he chose to say it now. “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. “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 issue with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz when they met in Berlin this week. “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,” he said, adding: “There is certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics.” The Alternative for Germany (AfD) won state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in September.

What Parliament found in 2020

In 2020, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee found, in its so-called Russia Report, that the government had failed to fully assess the impact that Russian state-run media and “troll” accounts could have had on the EU referendum. Moscow has consistently rejected any such accusation, and Vladimir Putin said in 2016 that Russia had never interfered in the process. Britain voted to leave the EU on June 23, 2016, by 52% to 48%.

Burnham already took aim at Russian information warfare in his speech to the UN General Assembly last month, saying there was evidence that Moscow had tried to interfere in the 2019 general election as well. Information warfare remains an open front across Europe, as the arrest of the founder of the Russian channel Rybar in Montenegro showed.

The question of rejoining

The remarks come as Burnham seeks closer ties with Brussels. In his Labour conference speech he set out a plan to seek political consensus on the UK’s future relationship with the EU and left open the possibility of a future manifesto pledge to rejoin the bloc. The acknowledgement of Russian interference is expected to feed the debate over whether London is considering reversing Brexit.