Russia Report legal case goes to Strasbourg
A cross-party group of MPs and peers is going to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the UK Government’s failure to investigate Russian interference in UK electoral processes. The landmark legal action has been launched in response to the government’s failure to act on the findings of the Russia Report, published by the Intelligence and Security Committee in July 2020, which reported credible evidence of attempts by Russia to interfere with the UK’s electoral processes.
The parliamentary group which is bringing the action includes Ben Bradshaw MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Alyn Smith MP, Lord Strasburger and Baroness Wheatcroft. They claim the government is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 3, Protocol 1) which requires regular, free, secret-ballot elections which “ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people”.
“As President Putin wages a war of terror on the Ukrainian people, he’s been waging another war on the very principles of democracy. The Russia Report is clear that there is credible evidence of Russian interference in UK electoral process – and yet our Government has consistently refused to investigate these serious conclusions.”
Caroline Lucas, Green MP
The Russia Report declared Russian interference in the UK ‘the new normal” and reported “credible attempts” to interfere with the UK’s electoral processes from at least the time of the EU referendum in 2016. The Intelligence and Security Committee called for an investigation and an updated legal and institutional framework to protect those processes from foreign interference.
When the government failed to act on these recommendations, the cross-parliamentary group joined forces with the Citizens to file an application for judicial review in August 2020. Permission for judicial review was refused by the High Court and the group’s application for permission to appeal was turned down by the Court of Appeal.
“We now have no other option than to take our case to the European Court of Human Rights, in order to try to force the Government to undertake a full investigation into the evidence, or else we jeopardise the free and fair elections we hold dear and allow Putin to believe that, once again, he can get away with hostile state interference in our democratic processes,” said Caroline Lucas MP.