Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Russia interfered with the 2016 Brexit referendum, telling The Rest is Politics podcast that he received "the clear answer that, yes, there was" interference after asking officials upon taking office. Burnham did not specify the type or extent of Russian activity during the vote.
Burnham warned that similar interference was occurring in France and Germany. He told the podcast: "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." During a visit to Germany this week, he discussed the issue with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, noting that "misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics" was a concern.
This marks the first time a UK prime minister has made such a statement about the 2016 Brexit vote. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee published a report on Russian interference in 2020 that did not definitively conclude Russia attempted to influence the EU referendum, though it criticized successive governments for failing to fully assess or counter the threat. Russia's foreign minister dismissed that report as "Russophobia," and a Kremlin spokesman denied any meddling.
The 2020 Conservative government stated it was "almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere" in the 2019 general election.
Britain Unbound, a pro-Brexit campaign group, responded to Burnham's comments by saying they represented "another crude attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the decision that the British people made in 2016." The group acknowledged that foreign interference was "obviously unacceptable" but stated: "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."
BBC Verify has tracked Russian-linked disinformation campaigns using artificial intelligence to create fake videos impersonating journalists and news organizations. Vijay Rangarajan, head of the UK Electoral Commission, told MPs this year that Russian deepfake videos had been "used extensively in elections around the world," adding "there is no reason to assume Britain would be an exception."
Burnham announced at the United Nations last month that the UK would establish a new center to counter disinformation, accusing Russian agencies of using "every means at their disposal to spread lies."