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Anti-corruption campaigners and the Liberal Democrats are calling for fresh investigations into Russian interference in British politics, after Reform UK’s former leader in Wales admitted to taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia.
Last Friday’s guilty plea in the trial of Nathan Gill, Reform UK’s former leader in Wales, demonstrates the “real risks of foreign interference and corruption” in Britain’s politics, according to the monitoring group Spotlight on Corruption.
Appearing at the Old Bailey last week, Gill admitted he accepted corrupt payments in exchange for making pro-Russia statements in 2018 and 2019 as a UKIP Member of the European Parliament when Nigel Farage was leader. Gill also represented north Wales in the Welsh Parliament for the Reform predecessor party. The prosecution successfully argued he received bribes from Oleg Voloshyn, a former Ukrainian official under ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Nathan Gill pleaded guilty to eight out of nine counts under the Bribery Act, admitting receiving financial advantages in the form of money between December 2018 and July 2019 which constituted “improper performance” of his role as an elected official. He is due to be sentenced on 21st November.
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The Liberal Democrats’ Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller has now said a new investigation should be launched looking into potential ties between Nigel Farage, Reform UK and Russia following the latest revelations. The party has said that a review by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee should be completed and laid before Parliament before the next General Election.
News outlet Nation.Cymru revealed in 2023 that Gill had been on multiple trips organised by people suspected of being Russian agents, including Ukraine and Moldova.
Susan Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption, said the UK must ensure that it has “robust, and well-resourced law enforcement response across the board to tackle corruption and electoral interference.”
“The Government also needs to be far more transparent about the levels of foreign interference that the UK faces, and what it is doing to tackle it. It should be reporting annually to parliament on this,” she added.
It comes after Reform boss Zia Yusuf appeared to dodge questions about the issue on Monday morning after BBC Breakfast showed a series of photos of Nigel Farage campaigning with Nathan Gill during previous Welsh elections.
Farage was previously paid to appear on Russia Today before it was banned in the UK in 2022. The Reform UK leader also previously declared that Putin is the world leader he admires the most. Farage led UKIP and served in the European Parliament with Gill, though there is no suggestion the former was involved in illegality.
Calum Miller, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, said: “The revelations in recent days show the lengths to which Russia will go to subvert our democracy and influence our politics. There is a strong case for the Intelligence and Security Committee to launch a new inquiry into Russian interference in our politics, including any further links with Reform UK.
“Nigel Farage was previously paid to appear on Russia Today until it was banned and has said Vladimir Putin is the world leader he admires the most. The British public deserve to know the full extent of the ties between Farage and Russia before the next election.
“We need to avoid a repeat of the last Russia report which the Conservative Party shamefully suppressed until after the country went to the polls. This Government should now implement in full the recommendations of the last Russia report to establish more confidence in our democratic processes and show that British politics is not for sale to the highest bidder.”
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) oversees the operations of the UK Intelligence Community (including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ), and has access to classified evidence under the Official Secrets Act. The Committee’s “Russia Report” was published in 2020, after being delayed by the then Conservative government, and concluded that Russian interference in British politics is “commonplace”.
Separately, Spotlight on Corruption is calling for the independence of the UK’s elections watchdog, the Electoral Commission, to be “fully restored” to safeguard the UK’s electoral integrity from a future authoritarian government.
In a new report, Democracy in Danger, the charity warns that current ministerial power over the Commission – initiated by the last Conservative Government – “could easily be abused to undermine our democracy.”
Provisions introduced by the Conservative government in the Elections Act 2022 allow ministers to set the Electoral Commission’s strategy and policy, “curtailing the regulator’s ability to operate freely from ministerial intervention,” according to SoC.
The Government’s new powers over the supposedly independent elections body was described by former MI5 director-general and chair of the top ethics body, Lord Evans, as “giving a toddler a gun.”
Byline Times also reported this week on fears over foreign interference in British politics through loopholes in political funding rules. Reform UK recently began allowing supporters to give to the party using cryptocurrency, where the sources of funds are typically far harder to trace than traditional methods.
A spokesperson for Reform UK said: “Nathan Gill has never been a paid up member of Reform UK.” The Brexit Party was renamed Reform UK in January 2021. He was the party’s leader in Wales until May 2021, so Reform’s statement suggests he didn’t pay to be a member while leading the party.
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