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Three former ministers today called for Parliament’s Intelligence committee to probe whether leading Brexit campaigners colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the EU referendum .

An army of ‘bots’ - automated accounts programmed to push propaganda on Twitter - shared messages thousands of times a day from millionaire Brexiteer Arron Banks’ campaign group Leave.EU, the Mirror can reveal.

Researchers from Swansea University found they retweeted Banks’ group seven times more often than posts from the official campaign. On average, the accounts shared 15 posts a day from Leave.EU, compared to just 2 a day for Vote Leave.

Yesterday it emerged an Kremlin-linked troll account had pushed Banks' news website , Westmonster, while tweeting in the wake of the Westminster Bridge attack.

A research paper, to be published soon by Swansea University and University of California, Berkely, found 20% of all the tweets about Brexit in their three month-long sample around the vote were pushed out by bots.

And some 45,000 pro-Brexit messages were tweeted by Russian bots alone in the 48 hours leading up to the poll.

(Image: SWNS)

The Electoral Commission is currently investigating whether Banks’ pro-Brexit group accepted illegal overseas donations in the run up to the referendum.

But it emerged today that the investigation had been delayed because Leave.EU had failed to hand over information it had requested.

Labour MPs Ben Bradshaw, Chris Bryant and David Lammy today called for Tory MP Dominic Grieve, the expected chair of the new Intelligence and Security Committee to urgently investigate whether Brexit campaigns colluded with Russia.

Mr Bradshaw said: “Given the people who were behind Leave.EU, this is extremely interesting. It is vital that the ISC examines this as part of a wider probe into Russian interference, but also that the Government comes clean on what it knows.”

(Image: Getty Images Europe) (Image: REUTERS)

Chris Bryant said investigating the prospect of collusion should be one of the committee’s first tasks, adding: "If the Prime Minister knows what Putin has been up to then we should all know."

David Lammy added: “Outside influence on our politics and on our elections in particular is a very grave issue.

"In light of what is going on in the United States with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump, we need to act quickly and set up an investigation so that the ISC can get to the bottom of the murky links between Leave.EU, Russian influence and some of Trump’s acolytes.”

(Image: PA)

A spokesman for Mr Banks welcomed the prospect of a probe into whether Leave.EU colluded with the Kremlin, saying: “Yes please. Bring it on. Happy to help.”

He added: “Also if Leave.EU tweets were tweeted 7 times more, it just goes to prove that our stuff much more interesting than Vote Leave’s."

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has told US authorities the tech firm believe thousands of accounts were being operated from a shadowy, Kremlin-linked ‘troll farm’ in St Petersburg, known as the Internet Research Agency.

The accounts spewed out hundreds of thousands of messages as part of a wider propaganda campaign, designed to sow discord and mistrust in Western democracies.

Eloise Todd, CEO of campaign group Best for Britain said: “With every passing day it is looking more like the EU referendum was influenced by the Russians. Their plan to rip us away from our friends and allies, added to helping Donald Trump win the Presidency was the biggest intelligence coup of modern times.

"The Intelligence Committee need to conduct a thorough investigation of Russian hacking of our politics, media and elections. It is now time to lift the rock and see the full links between Brexit organisations and the Kremlin."

Best for Britain has launched a petition calling on the committee , which was formally created today, to investigate Russian meddling in British democracy.

The Electoral Commission is investigating whether Banks, a close associate of Nigel Farage who bankrolled Ukip for several years, was the "true source" of three loans worth £6 million on non-commercial terms to Leave.EU, and whether Better For The Country Limited (BFTCL) - a company that lists him as a director - was acting as an "agent" when it donated £2.3 million to five registered campaigners.

The watchdog’s probe is also investigating the alleged undeclared provision of services to Leave.EU by data firm Cambridge Analytica.

Mr Banks has insisted Leave.EU was funded by himself, financier Peter Hargreaves and public donations, and that there is "not one shred of evidence" to back allegations of "dark Russian money" coming into the campaign.

Theresa May insists the Government has not seen any evidence that Russia has directly interfered with the UK political system.

Last night, Tory Justice Secretary David Lidington said he did not know whether Vladimir Putin wanted Britain to vote for Brexit.

But he said: “I think it is in the interests of Russia to try to divide the western, trans-Atlantic alliance and I think that they will use every opportunity to do that.

"I think the way Putin is pursuing policy is opportunist in terms of tactics but strategic in terms of asserting Russia's status as one of a handful of great powers in the world and to seek to separate the US from its European allies and try to divide European countries one from the other.”