(Newport West) (Lab):
While I am sure the answer was given in good faith, the answer
the Leader of the House gave to my right hon. Friend the Member
for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) is untrue. The Electoral Commission has
confessed that it has no mechanisms to find out whether there has
been interference by cyber-techniques from Russia, by botnets and
by Artificial Intelligence. These methods of distorting and
buying elections have come in since the rules for the Electoral
Commission were laid down. We must look seriously at this issue.
I recommend the Leader of the House reads the journalism of
Carole Cadwalladr, who has named precisely the organisations that
may well have rigged the result of the referendum, because we
know it is in Russia’s interests to destabilise Europe.
The Leader of the House of Commons (Andrea
Leadsom): Just to be very clear to the hon. Gentleman, I
was not suggesting that the Electoral Commission should
investigate; I was merely saying that information should be
reported to the Electoral Commission, as indeed it has been in
all areas of fraud, misuse of voting and so on. The Electoral
Commission should then be in a position to bring in the legal and
police services, should it decide there is a case to answer. It
is very important that as much evidence as possible is brought
forward and not just left as rumours and accusations. These
things need to be investigated properly to make sure our
electoral system remains as free and fair as we all hope it is
today.
