The long-awaited report on Russian interference in the UK will be published by next Wednesday.
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) agreed to make the report public as it sat for the first time after Julian Lewis was controversially elected chair over Boris Johnson’s favoured candidate Chris Grayling.
The ISC, which oversees the work of the UK’s intelligence agencies such as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, produced the report after examining possible Russian influence into the UK democratic process, particularly the 2016 EU referendum and 2017 general election.
The prime minister has previously been criticised for the delay in publishing the report which he received in October as he was preparing for the December election.
But No.10 insisted it could not be published until a new ISC was formed.
The committee met for the first time on Thursday after it was finally put together, seven months after the general election.
A spokesperson for the ISC said: “The committee has unanimously agreed this morning that it will publish the report on Russia prepared by its predecessor before the house rises for the summer recess.
“There will be no further comment.”
Russian interference into the US presidential election of 2016 is well-documented and there are fears that Vladimir Putin’s nation may have sought to exert similar influence in the UK.
The report’s publication comes after Lewis accused Johnson of behaving in an “improper” way when he tried to tell Tory members of the ISC to choose Grayling as chair.