Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

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

The noble Lord raises an important point. Obviously, France is one of our key allies—we have seen images only today of the President with the Prime Minister at the G7. I reassure your Lordships’ House that our position is that it is dangerous to jump to any conclusions on the basis of a single report. The UK Government will draw on our own analysis and draw our own conclusions.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, it is increasingly clear that there was a major effort by the Russians in support of the SNP at the Scottish Parliament elections, because it is in their interest to break up Britain. In view of this and subsequent events, is there not a case now for those elections to be rerun?

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

I thank my noble friend for so many things, but I am not sure that our colleagues who are currently campaigning in by-elections up and down the country will necessarily join me in doing so. My noble friend raises an important point about ensuring that people have confidence in the election results. That is why we have the Joint Election Security and Preparedness Unit, which was operational during the recent elections and is operational again during the current by-elections to make sure that we can all have confidence in the democratic process.