The UK government has been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond to a number of ‘credible allegations’ brought by a group of cross-party MPs over alleged Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Alyn Smith of the Scottish National Party (SNP) have lodged a claim with the Strasbourg court after the High Court in London rejected the case in 2021.
They say the failure of the Government to investigate “credible allegations” of interference in the UK electoral system, or to have in place a “legislative and policy framework that will identify and protect against interference in the UK electoral system”, breaches its obligations under Article 3 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights – which protects the right to free and fair elections.
Implicit duty
In a letter to the group of MPs, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has accepted the claim through the first stage of the court’s process and says it now requires the UK Government to respond to five questions by the end of April.
The questions include whether the complaints made fall within Article 3 of Protocol 1, whether there is an implicit duty on states to investigate allegations of interference in their elections, and whether the MPs can claim to be victims of the alleged breaches.
They also claim Boris Johnson unlawfully failed to act following a report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which found the Government was “slow to recognise the existence of the threat”.
In a statement on the latest development in the ECtHR case, Bradshaw said: “A number of us have been warning about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s real intent for more than 10 years.
“We know that his long-term strategy has been to destabilise and divide western democracies and nothing that’s happened in recent British history has done more to destabilise Europe, and Britain’s relationship with it, than Brexit.
“Nobody is advocating reversing Brexit. This is about something far more fundamental than that.
“Protecting the integrity of our politics”
“It’s about (protecting) the integrity of our politics, our democratic system and our electoral process from Russia and other hostile state actors, whose active strategy is to try to disrupt and destroy that model.”
Lucas added: “It’s two-and-a-half years since the Russia Report showed credible evidence of Russian interference in UK elections, and yet our Government has continually turned a blind eye to its jaw-dropping findings.
“With a general election on the horizon, and with Russia’s war on Ukraine showing no sign of abating, the stakes have never been higher.
“Ministers simply can’t be allowed to keep ignoring national security issues for reasons of political inconvenience. So I’m delighted that this landmark court case is proceeding to the next stage … the future of democracy is on trial.”
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