Russian interference after the Independence referendum should have been a warning to the government over meddling in Brexit.

The Intelligence and Security Committee has published the full report into Russia's involvement in UK democratic processes this morning.

While it makes one mention of the Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014, it cites open source and formerly reported information, rather than any new evidence the committee has obtained to show that Russia did interfere with the vote. 

The report states: "There has been credible open source commentary suggesting that Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014."

It then redacts information, going on to state: " However, at the time ***. It appears that *** what some commentators have described as potentially the first post-Soviet Russian interference in a Western democratic process.

"We note that – almost five years on – ***." 

Members of the committee this morning described the report as a " scandal" and an "outrage", arguing that the UK government actively avoided looking for Russian involvement in the Brexit vote. 

SNP MP Stewart Hosie said the government "actively avoided looking for evidence that Russia interfered"

He said: "The report reveals that no one in government knew if Russia interfered in or sought to influence the [Brexit] referendum because they did not want to know".

Hosie, who is a member of the ISC, said he hoped the publication of information was the 'start of a watershed moment' in how the UK deals with Russia and its potential involvement in future democratic processes.

The report states that the government failed to prepare, adding: "It was only when Russia completed a ‘hack and leak’ operation against the Democratic National Committee in the US – with the stolen emails being made public a month after the EU referendum – that it appears that the Government belatedly realised the level of threat which Russia could pose in this area, given that the risk thresholds in the Kremlin had clearly shifted, describing the US ‘hack and leak’ as a “game changer”, and admitting that “prior to what we saw in the States, [Russian interference] wasn’t generally understood as a big threat to [electoral] processes”.

Along with criticisms of the government's ignorance of Russian interference over the EU referendum, the report also suggests links between members of the House of Lords and Russian oligarchs and organisations.

While MPs have to report payments they receive over £100, it does not apply to the House of Lords, with the committee this morning recommending this be amended.

The report states: "A number of Members of the House of Lords have business interests linked to Russia, or work directly for major Russian companies linked to the Russian state – these relationships should be carefully scrutinised, given the potential for the Russian state to exploit them.

"It is important that the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords, and the Register of Lords’ interests, including financial interests, provide the necessary transparency and are enforced.

"In this respect, we note that the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament requires that MPs register individual payments of more than £100 which they receive for any employment outside the House – this does not apply to the House of Lords, and consideration should be given to introducing such a requirement." 

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