Burnham blasts Russia & vows ‘we will be unflinching’ in defending Britain in speech to UN General Assembly

ANDY Burnham has blasted Russia for subjecting the UK to an “industrial-scale assault” and has vowed to take action. The PM took to the stage at the United Nation General Assembly and told world leaders “we will be unflinching” in defending Britain. In his maiden address in New York the PM slammed Russia as “repulsive” and said the country had preyed on people’s fear. Speaking just after midnight on Wednesday UK time he added: “Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation.” He continued: “We also know that they have tried to stoke tensions and unrest in the wake of horrific events. “The idea that anyone would try to use such things to their advantage is just repulsive – but it is what they do.” read more on politics He pointed to attempts from Russia to meddle in European elections and said the Kremlin had spent £1.3m on manipulating information. Mr Burnham continued: “They’ve used bots and fake websites, falsified articles, forged the branding and tried to stoke unrest after horrific events.” In response to Russian interference he said “security starts at home” and revealed plans for a new National Centre for Information Defence. The centre will look “to detect, attribute and disrupt these kinds of hostile state information attacks – to support and defend our democracy”. Most read in The Sun He said AI only stands to increase the threat and announced a new partnership with the US on AI defence to protect national infrastructure. This will be part of a wider move to put AI “at the heart of the UK’s G20 presidency next year”. He again called for global regulation on AI to ensure the technology is developed safely that needs to be dealt with similarly to the 2008 financial crisis. Mr Burnham said the new centre will work to “to detect, attribute and disrupt these kinds of hostile state information attacks – to support and defend our democracy”. He announced a new AI defence partnership with the US to “protect our critical national infrastructure”. While praising the opportunities for AI in the economy and in medicine he said the technology will be a “multiplier of risk”. He said: “We will bring the right people together on the key issues: delivering on the potential of AI for good, and dealing with the risks.” Mr Burnham added: “We will work towards agreeing a single set of global principles and standards to ensure the transparency and access we need to increase our preparedness – and to ensure that AI development is safe.” The UK will share its experience of dealing with disinformation with other allies, he said. However, positioning the UK as a leader in creating a set of rules to prevent the spread of rogue AI could cause a rift between Mr Burnham and the US President. The Prime Minister reiterated his wish for the UK to act as an “honest broker” to draw up “a single set of global principles and standards” for the development of frontier AI. But his speech at the United Nations General Assembly came just hours after Mr Trump told the same event that he would resist attempts to rein in what he called “super intelligence”. After a meeting with Donald Trump earlier, Mr Burnham insisted Britain was “America’s greatest ally” in his speech. He also said Britain will also stand against threats to the rights of British territories such as the Falkland Islands. Mr Burnham similarly earlier told Donald Trump Britain would “stand firm in the face of any threats” to the Falkland Islands. He said that he told the US President that he would “defend” the territory during their meeting on Tuesday. This comes after Mr Trump boasted he could “settle” any future conflict over the Falklands during a recent trip to Ireland. Mr Trump said a war between the UK and Argentina would be a “potential disaster”. The PM managed to escape relatively unscathed from his showdown with Donald Trump. The President praised Mr Burnham as a “natural businessperson” and said he “gets it”. He even told reporters he preferred Mr Burnham to Sir Keir Starmer and said relationships between the two countries were on the “up”. Mr Trump added: “Based on my relations with your prime minister Andy. I think we’re doing very well.” But he took a slap from the US President over his continued support to give the Chagos Islands away to Mauritius. Mr Trump said: “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal. They [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership.