Andy Burnham says officials in No10 have told him Russia interfered in the 2016 referendum. He has now been rebuffed by his own Foreign Office minister…
Burnham could have glanced at any of the countless statements the government has made on the matter:
- April 2018 petition response: There has been no evidence of successful interference.”
- 2020 post-report:“We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU Referendum.”
- Steve Reed, 16 December 2025: “There is no evidence that the outcome of any previous election or referendum was affected by any attempted foreign interference.”
- Dan Jarvis, 12 January 2026: “Successive governments have not seen any evidence of successful foreign interference in the European Union referendum.”
- Florence Eshalomi, 8 September 2026: “There is no evidence of any foreign interference attempts having been ‘successful’ in materially impacting the outcome of a recent UK election or referendum.”
Labour figures said the same before they were in government:
- Lisa Nandy, Shadow Foreign Secretary, 21 July 2020: “People made their own minds up.”
- Denis MacShane, former Labour Europe Minister: “the idea that 17m voters were swayed by Russia is wrong.”
Official investigations:
- NCA found no evidence of third-party funding behind Arron Banks’s widely panicked-about referendum loan.
- The ICO found no SCL/Cambridge Analytica referendum campaign role beyond preliminary enquiries that went no further.
- Claims fell apart in Banks v Cadwalladr as well.
Jarvis admitted in March 2025 that Russian networks such as Doppelganger tried to meddle in the 2024 election. If attempted interference compromises Brexit, it would obviously compromise Labour’s win too – perhaps more so. Guido awaits the new evidence…
