Now it’s being established that Russia did interfere with EURef what next?

Now it’s being established that Russia did interfere with EURef what next?

Comments 0 Comment

At some stage it might be argued that this undermines the validity of the result

In the US the objective of those trying to examine the Russian impact on their Presidential election a year ago is clear
– to undermine and possibly get rid of Trump.

Whether they succeed or not will be dominate the political narrative for months and maybe years to come. Even if Trump survives this will be used to try to taint him to impede his efforts win a second term in 2020.

But what of the growing evidence of the Russian effort to secure a Leave outcome in the Brexit referendum?

So far there have been almost no voices saying that this in some way invalidates the result but that might come.

What could be highly significant is the ongoing Electoral Commission probe into the funding of parts of the Leave campaign. That the ultra right wing Breitbart has been seeking to attack the probity of the Commission itself suggests that it sees the danger.

And what are we to make of TMay’s Mayor’s Banquet speech when she made huge attack on Russian efforts to interfere? That was based surely on security briefings she has received.

I thought that this was a very brave speech when she appeared to have got her mojo back but what was the objective? It must have been realised in Number 10 that this can be used to raise questions about Brexit.

All this comes at a very challenging time for the government as it tries to move towards the next stage in its negotiations with Brussels and of course the big parliamentary battle over the Brexit Bill.

I’ve so far refrained from betting on whether Brexit will happen according to the Government’s timetable but there might come a moment when it is worth a punt.

Mike Smithson


Comments by
Comments are closed.