PMQs: Elite Remainers should move on after Russia report, says Johnson

However the Prime Minister denied his government had done anything wrong, and said Mr Starmer could not "bring himself to accept" the decision to leave the EU.

He said: "This government is bringing forward legislation not only a new Espionage Act, not only new laws to protect against theft of intellectual property, but also a Magnitsky act directly to counter individuals in Russia or elsewhere, who transgress human rights, be no doubt what this is really all about this is bigger.

"This is about pressure from Remainers, who have seized on this report. They try to give the impression that Russian interference was somehow responsible for Brexit.

"People of this country didn't vote to leave the EU because of pressure from Russia or Russian interference, they voted because they wanted to take back control of our money, of our trade policy, of our laws and the simple fact is that after campaigning for remain, wanting to overturn the people's referendum, he simply can't bring himself to accept that. "

Mr Starmer responded, accusing the Prime Minister of sitting on the report for 10 months,

He said Mr Johnson had "failed to plug that gap in our national security for a year and a half. One of the starkest conclusions in the report is that the UK is clearly a target for Russian disinformation campaigns. The report also highlights that this has been met with a fragmented response across Whitehall and across the government.

"The report refers to this as a 'hot potato' with no one organisation recognising itself as having the overall lead as a serious gap in our defences.

"This is not about power, it's about responsibility."

Mr Johnson also lashed out further at those who did not want to leave the EU in response to a question from Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP.

Mr Bradshaw said the PM had tried to "fix" the Intelligence and Security Committee membership, and had put his own interests before national security, to which the Prime Minister replied: "I'm afraid what you have here is the the rage and fury of the Remainer elite that there is in fact nothing in this report, no smoking gun.

"After all that froth and fury, suddenly all those who want to remain in the EU find that they have no argument to stand on and I regret that they should simply move on."

Westminster SNP Leader Ian Blackford accused the Prime Minister again of a "power grab" with the upcoming internal markets bill, which has caused friction between the devolved governments and Downing Street.

Mr Blackford said: " The more Scotland sees of this UK government, the more convinced they are the need for Scotland's independence.

"A far better plan for the Tories would be to listen to the will of the Scottish people. So, before his visit tomorrow, will the Prime Minister call a halt to his government's full frontal attack on devolution?"

The PM responded: "I really don't know what [he] is talking about."

The SNP leader said: "In 2014 the people of Scotland were promised devolution max, near-federalism and the most powerful devolved parliament in the world. Instead we got a Tory Trade Bill that threatens our NHS; an Immigration Bill that will devastate our economy and a power grab that will dismantle devolution.

“We’ve seen Scotland’s powers grabbed by Westminster; workers’ rights attacked, and the rape clause and the bedroom tax.

“The overwhelming majority in Scotland’s parliament, its MPs and its people oppose all of these measures.

“The Prime Minister cannot claim that this is a union of equal partners when these damaging policies are imposed upon Scotland against our will.”

The party's deputy, Kirsten Oswald MP, added that MPs would return after the summer recess to a 'jobs bloodbath' as the Chancellor withdraws the jobs support schemes.

She asked Mr Johnson what he would do "to support sectors and prevent unemployment reaching 1980s levels".

The Prime Minister responded with a list of the schemes previously implemented, but added that "nobody will be left without hope".