Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes

Lord Hayward Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for her work in Armenia. What has come to light is extraordinary, although I have been reassured that, even with all those efforts, the Russian-supporting political party got only 17.5% of the vote. Obviously, we work closely with all our partners across all our allies to make sure that we learn best practice and share best practice where appropriate, and we will continue to do so. But each and every one of us also has a responsibility in this space to protect the democratic values we hold so dear.

[Lord Hayward (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Pack, referred to the Rycroft report, and a series of amendments to the pending legislation on elections were placed very soon after that report was published. May I ask that the Government go somewhat more slowly in relation to the proposed amendments and look at them more carefully, along with the events that the noble Lord, Lord Pack, identified, so that we do not have to come back yet again and amend yet more elections legislation in 12 or 18 months’ time?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I know how excited the noble Lord will be about the legislation that will be in front of your Lordships’ House, which he will be able to scrutinise, and I am sure that my ministerial colleagues will enjoy the inevitable debate. The noble Lord is right: we obviously responded immediately to some of the biggest areas of immediate concern that we could legislate for, and our full response to the report will follow very soon. But several reports, including from the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the other place, have looked at this space. We need to make sure that we respond to everything in the round and take some time, but also act quickly, given the potential impact that we see every day.