Andy Burnham: Russia meddled in the Brexit vote

Britain's prime minister has confirmed suspicions that Russia tried to influence the 2016 Brexit vote.

In an episode of the podcast "The rest is politics", which is led by Alastair Campbell, former spokesman for Tony Blair, and Rory Stewart, former member of parliament for the Conservative Party, Andy Burnham says that when he was new in Downing Street, he asked the question whether there was Russian interference in the vote.

- The answer I got was clear: yes, there was.

Burnham's statements diverge from what previous conservative governments have claimed, namely that there was a lack of evidence that Moscow successfully interfered in the election.

In the podcast, the Prime Minister does not go into how it should have happened or who provided him with the information. But he is said to have discussed the subject with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a visit to Berlin last week.

- It is important to establish these things. I think it helps the voters in Germany and France to understand that part of our politics is driven by our enemies, that is, Russia, he says.

There have long been suspicions and warnings that the Kremlin tried and still tries to exert influence over British politics.

In 2020, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee published a report on Russian interference in British elections and referendums. However, it contained no definitive conclusion on whether Russia actually influenced the outcome of the EU referendum, but criticized British governments for having long underestimated Russian influence campaigns.

The Kremlin denies such and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the report as an expression of Russophobia.

- I actually think that we have been too passive on this issue and that we have not sufficiently informed the public about the extent to which actors from other countries are trying to disrupt the political process in our country, says Andy Burnham in "The rest is politics" episode that was released on Monday.