Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the responses by Earl Howe on 29 January (HL Deb, col 1438) and 12 February (HL Deb, col 2264) and reports that they have changed their public position as to whether there have been successful examples of Russian disinformation affecting elections in the UK, what recent assessment they have made of evidence of Russian interference in the (1) 2016 EU referendum, (2) 2017 General Election, and (3) 2019 General Election.

It is and always will be an absolute priority to protect our democratic and electoral processes. As previously stated, the government examines all aspects of the electoral process following an election, including foreign interference. That work is ongoing following the December 2019 General Election.

The Government saw no evidence of successful interference in the 2016 EU referendum or the 2017 General Election.