His comments mark a significant departure from the position taken by past Conservative governments, which insisted there was no evidence of successful interference by Russia in the hugely consequential referendum vote.<\/p>\n
Burnham did not disclose who had given him the assessment, what evidence it was based on or whether any interference had affected the result of the vote.<\/p>\n
A report by parliament\u2019s intelligence and security committee in 2020 criticised the government and intelligence agencies for failing to properly investigate potential Russian interference in the referendum.<\/p>\n
The cross-party committee found that ministers had failed to seek a full assessment of Moscow\u2019s activities, despite evidence of attempts to influence British politics through Russian state-backed media outlets and social media accounts.<\/p>\n
It said the government had not provided any post-referendum assessment of Russian attempts at interference, in contrast to the investigation undertaken in the US after the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n
The committee also said that whether a hostile state had sought to influence a democratic process was important regardless of whether those efforts had succeeded.<\/p>\n
Burnham said Britain needed to be more open about attempts by hostile states to interfere in its politics, particularly as European leaders grapple with the rise of the far right.<\/p>\n
Last month the prime minister attacked Russian information warfare during a speech to the UN general assembly, saying there was evidence Moscow had tried to interfere with the 2019 general election.<\/p>\n
Burnham told the podcast: \u201cThese 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.<\/p>\n
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