MPS threaten PM with legal action

A group of MPS and peers are threatening legal action against the government unless Boris Johnson orders an independent investigation into Russian interference in UK elections since 2016.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, MPS including the Green Party’s Caroline

Lucas, Labour’s Chris Bryant and Baroness Wheatcroft, a Conservative peer until she resigned from the party last year, accuse the Prime Minister of a “lack of action” on the matter.

The group add that Mr Johnson’s refusal to launch an investigation is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, specifically the right to free elections, and that they will take him to court if he refuses to take what they say are essential steps to protect future elections.

The signatories demand that the Government implements the recommendations of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee’s report into Russian interference, which was published in July after a nine-month delay.

But Mr Johnson has not yet accepted the request of the committee.