Thread by @allthecitizens

NEW: ‘The judge, Mr Justice Swift, said he saw “no distinction” between a controversial talkshow host – or “shock-jock” – & career spies in Moscow seeking to disrupt British democracy.’ @lukeharding1968 reports for @guardian

theguardian.com/law/2021/jun/2…

Ben Bradshaw, Labour mp said: “This leaves our democracy defenceless against a hostile foreign power. The government has been wilfully negligent in investigating Kremlin interference in our democratic processes.“

"Every other western democracy takes this extremely seriously. Boris Johnson is looking away,” Ben Bradshaw said.

The court was told the Kremlin had mounted a troll driven disinformation campaign and a hack and leak campaign similar to that used in the US. Despite this, 5 years on the extent of the interference in UK elections & the Referendum remains uninvestigated.

@RhonddaBryant described the decision as 'extraordinary.'

The court heard "There was 'strong prima facie' evidence that Russia had interfered on the side of leave in the 2016 Brexit vote – and subsequently in the 2017 and 2019 general elections."

Peter Ricketts, former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee said “Given the importance of knowing the extent of past Russian interference in assessing the risk for future elections, I do not understand why the government would choose not to investigate.”

Ricketts said he was 'very surprised' that the government had not sought evidence over Russian interference in the Brexit vote, nor carried out a post-referendum assessment of Russian attempts to influence elections in the UK.

The cross-party group of claimants 'were not seeking to overturn the Referendum result' but 'wanted the government to see what lessons might be learned, and to take steps to prevent meddling in future.'

Speaking outside the court, Alyn Smith, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson said "the government had 'sandbagged' the Russia report by first delaying its publication, and then refusing to implement its findings."

“The ISC was a wake-up call. The government is refusing to wake up,” Smith said.