CONSPICUOUS BY THEIR ABSENCE

Urgent action must be taken to protect May elections from Russian interference - Ben Lake MP

Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion Preseli, Ben Lake, has criticised Reform UK for being “absent” from a parliamentary debate on Russian interference, in the wake of the jailing of its former Welsh leader, Nathan Gill, for “treachery.”

Speaking during a Westminster Hall debate on Monday (9th February), Mr Lake said the scale of public concern was reflected in Wales having the highest numbers of signatories to the petition that triggered the debate.

His comments follow the jailing of Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, who was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison after admitting to taking bribes in exchange for promoting pro-Russian positions in speeches and media interviews while serving as a Member of the European Parliament.

Mr Lake warned that the upcoming Senedd election in May could be held under laws that are not yet strong enough to prevent foreign interference. He urged the UK Government to act swiftly to implement new protections for UK democracy.

The UK Government-commissioned review into foreign political interference is expected to report its findings in March. Mr Lake told MPs that, while it may not be possible to pass new legislation before elections in Wales and elsewhere in the UK in May, ministers must be ready to act immediately once the review is published.

He warned that failing to do so would leave future elections vulnerable to covert interference, including the use of opaque financial structures to channel foreign money into UK political debate.

Mr Lake also called for urgent scrutiny of loopholes in existing law, including the use of limited partnerships registered in Wales, which he warned have been exploited to channel foreign money into UK politics. He urged ministers to ensure that these mechanisms are fully examined as part of the review.

 

Speaking in Westminster, Ben Lake MP said:

“Wales is one of the areas that has secured the highest concentration of signatories across the entirety of the UK. It will come as no surprise to anybody that the reason for that interest and level of concern in Wales is the antics and treachery of the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Mr Nathan Gill. As has been mentioned, he has been jailed for 10 and a half years for accepting Russian bribes to the tune of some £40,000 for making pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament and to the media. As I think everybody will agree, the man has committed treachery for £40,000, so we must ask serious questions about his integrity and that of his party, whose members I notice are absent from today’s debate.

“I want to make two broad points. The first is to explain why it is so important that we waste no time in implementing measures in response to the findings of the review that the Government have rightly called for and initiated. I understand the review will report its findings in March. I plead with the Government Minister to ensure that the findings are acted on as soon as possible, so as to preserve the integrity of our democracy. Sadly, it might not be possible to bring about any legislative changes in time for the elections in Wales and other parts of the UK in May this year. Nevertheless, it is important that we do not waste any time so that further elections are not influenced in any way by the scourge of Russian interference.

“I also ask the Minister that, as part of the review’s considerations, we look at the egregious loopholes in our current laws that the Russian state was able to exploit by funnelling money through to political actors and traitors in the UK for their own ends. I would like his reassurance that one particular device and mechanism being examined is the creation of Welsh limited partnerships. It is a subject that a whole host of investigative journalists have written about in some detail, and which I would very much like to hear the Government state that they are looking at. Such devices are created in Moscow in Russia and are then used to funnel money into our political discourse and political actors who try to interfere and influence our debates in malign ways that are very difficult for us to spot, or at least not very easy for the Electoral Commission and other authorities to act on effectively.

“I will end by reflecting on why that is so important. The Russian state is trying to target society and democracy in western countries. We should not be so naive as to think that it is not happening here in the UK.

“The strategic defence review of June last year concluded that we are under daily attack. When we talk about political interference, whether it is Russian, Iranian or Chinese for that matter, we should place that in the broader context of other hybrid warfare tactics. We need to consider that while those countries are perhaps flooding our social media feeds with disinformation generated by armies of bots, or trying directly to bribe some willing fools in our political environment, they are paving the way to undermining and corroding trust in political institutions and authorities such that we are even more vulnerable to the direct attacks they may launch, such as the terrible poisonings in Salisbury back in 2018, the arson attack back in 2024 or indeed the almost constant daily threat that these mysterious Russian research ships pose to our critical subsea infrastructure.

“By allowing political interference to continue, we risk undermining the public’s trust in all our institutions and, indeed, in the very integrity of our politics.”

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