Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes

Baroness Finn Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for so many things, but I am not sure that our colleagues who are currently campaigning in by-elections up and down the country will necessarily join me in doing so. My noble friend raises an important point about ensuring that people have confidence in the election results. That is why we have the Joint Election Security and Preparedness Unit, which was operational during the recent elections and is operational again during the current by-elections to make sure that we can all have confidence in the democratic process.

[Baroness Finn (Con)]

My Lords, the news of Russian state actors behind the arson attacks at sites linked to the Prime Minister is, as other noble Lords have pointed out, extremely concerning. Yesterday’s incident with the frigate “Admiral Grigorovich” shows that Russia has become increasingly reckless. Have similar trends been seen in Russian foreign interference operations online, including through the use of bots? What practical steps are Ministers taking to tackle this?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I think that we can all agree, not least after marking last week that the Ukraine war is longer than the First World War, that we are dealing with a bad-faith and outrageous actor with the Russian state, which has also been operating in the online space. Since October 2024, the Government have exposed and sanctioned 38 individuals and organisations responsible for delivering Russian information warfare. I appreciate, as will noble Lords, that there is still some way to go, but we are working every day to keep both our online and our offline spaces safe.