‘Don’t try to smear Brexit’: MP fears controversial ‘Russia report’ is another plot to sabotage UK leaving the EU
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said that the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee report, which is due to be published within days, will be another attempt to “sabotage” Brexit.
Ever keen to keep up with their US counterparts, the report examines whether Russia interfered in UK politics, particularly during the referendum on European Union membership. It was drawn up when the committee was under the chairmanship of Remain-supporting former MP Dominic Grieve.
Bridgen told the Sunday Express newspaper that it is just the latest example of defeated Remainers refusing to accept the will of the British people.
“Too often we have seen that Remainers cannot accept defeat and have repeatedly used any means possible to attempt to undermine and discredit the result,” he said.
The newspaper also reported that businessman Arron Banks, who founded the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign, has issued a legal challenge to the publication of the report. Banks’ legal team argue that, if the report rehashes unfounded allegations that have been made against their client, then it should not be released until Banks is afforded a chance to respond.
“The background to the report is clear. Russian interference in Brexit has become a mythical mantra for hardcore Remainers as they sought to try to discredit the result in any way they could,” Banks wrote, in an article in the Sunday Express.
“We are living in an age where political opponents are not prepared to accept defeat at the ballot box, and use other methods,” he added.
The publication of the report was blocked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of the 2019 election, yet Johnson said at the time that he had seen “no evidence of meddling.”
With the document still under wraps, British politicians have been free to blame Moscow for whatever suits their fancy. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has enthusiastically adopted this approach, claiming that Russia had meddled in last year’s election by “amplifying” leaked documents that revealed a potential post-Brexit trade deal with the US. Raab failed to provide any evidence to support his claims.