Andy Burnham has said it is "clear" that Russia interfered in Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union, becoming the first serving Prime Minister to acknowledge publicly that Moscow meddled in the referendum.
In an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast released on Sunday, Mr Burnham said he had put the question to his officials on arriving in Downing Street. "I asked the question coming to Downing Street: Was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia? And I've had the clear answer that yes, there was," he said.
The Prime Minister did not provide evidence for, or details of, the claim. But he said the record needed to be set straight: "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."
A warning to Berlin and Paris
Mr Burnham said he had discussed possible links between Moscow and the far-right Alternative for Germany party with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with whom he has built a close working relationship since taking office. The two leaders met at the United Nations General Assembly last month, days before signing an Anglo-German security pact in Berlin.
The admission revisits a long-running sore in British public life. A parliamentary report in 2020 criticised the then government for failing even to assess whether Russia had sought to influence the referendum, and successive prime ministers declined to be drawn on the question. Mr Burnham's decision to answer it directly marks a decisive break with that caution.
The Interference Question at a Glance
- Andy Burnham is the first serving Prime Minister to say publicly that Russia interfered in the 2016 referendum.
- The admission came in an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast released on Sunday.
- He gave no details of the underlying evidence, but said voters in Germany and France should understand the threat.
- The Prime Minister discussed suspected Russian links to the AfD with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
- A 2020 parliamentary report criticised the lack of any official assessment of interference in the vote.
Brexit back on the table
The remarks land hours before Mr Burnham addresses the Commons on Britain's future relationship with the European Union, where he is expected to argue that Brexit has done "more harm than good" and that rejecting closer ties would be a dereliction of duty. Last month he suggested the country should reconsider its long-term options, including rejoining the bloc.
Conservative figures accused the Prime Minister of relitigating the referendum to soften the ground for his Brussels pivot. Kemi Badenoch has called reopening the Brexit debate "a terrible idea", arguing that the country cannot afford to lose more time to an argument it thought was settled.
Allies of the Prime Minister reject that framing. They say the admission is about the integrity of future votes, not the validity of past ones, and point to elections across Europe where security services have warned of Russian attempts to sow division and amplify extremist parties.