Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of foreign state influence on UK political activity in the period surrounding the 2016 EU Referendum.

The UK Government takes issues of foreign interference or attempts to intervene in democratic processes very seriously.

Successive governments have not seen any evidence of successful foreign interference in the European Union referendum. The Electoral Commission’s report published in September 2016 on the referendum stated that the poll was delivered without any major issues and there was a clear and timely final result.

However, we recognise the enduring and significant threat that Russia poses to UK democracy and remain committed to defending the UK from all forms of foreign interference.

The Government’s Defending Democracy Taskforce regularly engages and works with devolved governments and parliaments on threats facing our democracy including foreign interference. The taskforce will be used to coordinate the delivery of the Government’s Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan. This action plan will deliver a protective security campaign to support those at risk to recognise, resist and report attempts of foreign interference, strengthen existing legislation to mitigate the threat, and coordinate action to disrupt the use of proxy actors.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and I commissioned an independent review on 16 January into foreign financial interference in UK politics. This review will assess finance and bribery rules and how to reduce risk of foreign interference, building on new rules set out in the Elections Strategy announced in July 2025.