Richard Foord

Richard Foord

Liberal Democrat — Honiton and Sidmouth

Speaking in the House of Commons on 9 February 2026

Debate

Russian Influence on UK Politics and Democracy

Contribution

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point about the need to amplify threat perception, but I do not think that that is required with the conduct of elections. The Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia report in 2020 said that it was informed that “the mechanics of the UK’s voting are deemed largely sound: the use of a highly dispersed paper-based voting and counting system makes any significant interference difficult”. Does the hon. Gentleman share my view that interference in the conduct of an election is less of a threat when elections in the UK involve pencils and ballot papers in village and town halls?

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