Russian hackers 'probably' swayed the historic EU referendum vote for Brexit, a former Cabinet minister has claimed.

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, a prominent Remain supporter, raised doubts about the validity of the result in June as he warned that people were underestimating the extent of cyber-warfare by Vladimir Putin.

Mr Bradshaw was mocked for the comments. One senior Tory deemed them worthy of Soviet-era propaganda paper Pravda while another said Britain was a 'long way from the Cold War if it's now Labour MPs who invent Russian subversion'.

The controversial comments came as Mr Bradshaw spoke in a debate on horrific developments in Syria - where Bashar Assad's Russian-backed forces have been storming the city.

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, a prominent Remain supporter, questioned the validity of the referendum result in the Commons today as he warned that people were underestimating Russian hacking

Vladimir Putin has been accused of deploying cyber-warfare techniques as part of his strategy to wield power on the world stage

The MP said we were witnessing the 'collapse' of the 'rule based global order' and governments had not 'begun to wake up to' the scale of President Putin's meddling in foreign affairs.

He said there was now 'proof' that Russian hackers had intervened in the US presidential election - in which Donald Trump secured a shock victory.

American intelligence sources have claimed Moscow was behind leaks of emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. The billionaire tycoon has played down the significance of any incursions.

Dramatically widening the scope of the hacking allegations, Mr Bradshaw said: 'What President Putin cannot achieve militarily he is already achieving using cyber and propaganda warfare.

'I don't think we have even begun to wake up to what Russia is doing when it comes to cyber warfare.

'Not only their interference - now proven - in the American election.

HOW COULD RUSSIA HAVE HACKED THE REFERENDUM? Ben Bradshaw told MPs today he believes Kremlin hacking interfered with the EU referendum. He based his claim on the US elections in which Russia is thought to have tried to help Donald Trump to victory. US intelligence agencies believe Russia was responsible for hacking of Democratic party files. Documents were handed to the WikiLeaks website and they caused repeated embarrassment to Hillary Clinton during her White House run. Mr Bradshaw admitted there was not 'yet' evidence of similar involvement in Britain. But the rapid growth of 'fake news' has dominated some post-referendum discussion amid claims outside contenders could drive dubious stories to prominence on social media. Advertisement

'Probably in our own referendum last year - we don't have the evidence for this but I think it is highly probable.'

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: 'That's a bit rich coming from a prominent Remain supporter who was part of a campaign that employed all the tactics of the discredited Soviet Pravda in pursuit of Project Fear.

'I would ask him to bring forward what evidence he has that Russia hacked the referendum.

'I do know the EU were paying people to Tweet.'

Senior Tory Steve Baker said: 'We've come a long way from the Cold War if it's now Labour MPs who invent Russian subversion.'

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell told MailOnline: 'Did they hack the Sleaford by-election too, making Labour finish fourth?

'Perhaps they rigged the Labour leadership poll to put an unelectable leader in charge too.'

Conservative Michael Tomlinson said: 'I assume he must be joking and this is a crazy claim from someone who does not want to accept the will of the people.'

Asked about the claim, a Number 10 spokesman said: 'I have not come across any evidence that Russian cyber warfare was used to influence the referendum.

'The referendum was run in this country, it was a very clear vote and we are now getting on with delivering on the will of the people to take Britain out of the European Union.'

Mr Bradshaw said Russian hackers had 'probably' intervened in the referendum campaign

Mr Bradshaw was among 83 rebels who voted against a Commons motion last week saying Theresa May should trigger Article 50 by next March.

The Exeter MP said at the time he had not been convinced that the government would fulfil its promise of producing a plan before the mechanism is invoked - starting the formal two-year process for leaving the EU.

In the Commons debate, former chancellor George Osborne condemned the failure of the West to intervene in Syria to defend civilians facing a brutal final assault by regime forces in Aleppo.

He said the refusal of the House to back military action after chemical weapon strikes in 2013 proved staying out of foreign wars also had a price.

Mr Osborne said the bloody scenes in Syria were 'something we could have foreseen done something about'.

In an emergency Commons debate, he warned the vote not to intervene had led to tens of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees and the rise of ISIS.

Responding to the debate, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Britain and France were convening emergency talks at the UN and renewed his condemnation of Russia and China for blocking efforts to find a ceasefire and end the fighting.