CARLISLE’S MP has called for vigilance as a long-awaited report by the Intelligence & Security Committee has been published setting out the threat Russia poses to UK national security.

The committee's report sets out a number of important points in regards to the impact that Russia seeks to have in the UK.

Members had looked at cyber security, interference in both the Scottish and the European Union referendums, and the way Russian money has been invested in the UK.

Carlisle MP John Stevenson said: “It demonstrates that we have to, as a country, be very vigilant and aware of interference by foreign powers that are not necessarily friendly towards us.

“Therefore, quite rightly, the foreign secretary has said Russia should desist from interfering in our elections but just as importantly we have to be vigilant in ensuring that our election system is as robust as it possibly can be.”

The report outlines that the British voting system makes it difficult to tamper with an election.

“One positive from it is that our paper-and-pen voting system is actually remarkably robust,” he said.

“It may be seen as slightly old fashioned but actually it is very difficult to interfere with and people have a lot of confidence in it.”

The report reflects on interference in both the EU referendum and the Scottish independence referendum; it states that there is credible open-source evidence of the latter but does not say whether the interference was successful.

It also calls for an investigation into the former regardless of whether it was successful or not.

Mr Stevenson said: “As far as I can ascertain, there is limited evidence of any material interference in the Brexit referendum. Clearly there had been some interference in the Scottish referendum but whether it had any impact on the outcome is debatable.

“More importantly we have to look forward and ensure our democratic system is as robust as it possibly can be and also to tell foreign powers that they should stay out of our democratic system.”