THE UK government “actively avoided looking for evidence that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum”.

In a damning and long awaited report into the Kremlin's influence in British politics, the Intelligence and Security Committee claims the issue of "defending the UK’s democratic processes and discourse has appeared to be something of a 'hot potato’, with no one organisation recognising itself as having an overall lead."

The MPs on the committee said that the lack of evidence gathered meant it was impossible to say whether or not the Kremlin had been involved.

The report says the alarm bells should have been ringing in the aftermath of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum when “credible open source commentary" suggested "Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.”

Much of the rest of the paragraph is redacted though the footnotes refer to a blog post by Ben Nimmo, a senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, which detailed how “Pro-Russian internet trolls” claimed that the referendum vote was rigged.

Speaking at the launch, the SNP’s Stewart Hosie, who sits on the committee, said Moscow’s interest in Scotland should have spurred the UK government to have been better prepared. 

“The UK Government should have recognised the threat back in 2014, in relation to the Scottish referendum, but it didn't understand the threat until after the hack and leak operation against the Democratic National Committee in the United States. 

“And because it was too slow to recognise the threat, it didn't take action to protect the UK in 2016. One would have thought that once the existence of a threat had been understood, seeing what had happened in the US, that someone here would have wanted to understand the extent and nature of the threat to the UK.”

While the committee cant compel the intelligence services to carry out work, they have asked the government to launch a probe "to ensure that future electoral processes can be protected from similar interference".

The report says successive UK governments have for years welcomed “oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with a means of recycling illicit finance through the London ‘laundromat’, and connections at the highest levels with access to UK companies and political figures.”

This, it goes on, “has led to a growth industry of ‘enablers’ including lawyers, accountants, and estate agents who are – wittingly or unwittingly – de facto agents of the Russian state.”

The document was completed last October but was sat on by Boris Johnson before the general election.

Responding, the government said they had "seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum" and a probe was "not necessary."

They added: "The intelligence and security agencies produce and contribute to regular assessments of the threat posed by hostile state activity, including around potential interference in UK democratic processes.

"We keep such assessments under review and, where necessary, update them in response to new intelligence, including during democratic events such as elections and referendums.

"Where new information emerges, the government will always consider the most appropriate use of any intelligence it develops or receives, including whether it is appropriate to make this public.

"Given this long standing approach, a retrospective assessment of the EU referendum is not necessary."