A parliamentary select committee report into potential Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum will not be published until after the general election, the government has said.

Government ministers said the report would be published "in due course", as is the procedure for sensitive information, and they are only following proper procedure.

Critics say there is no reason to delay publication and a further wait will just fuel concerns that the findings are being buried until the general election has been done. 

Should the report be published as soon as possible or is it alright to wait until after the general election?

The Claim

The government has said they are following standard procedure by not publishing the report until after the election. It takes time for Downing Street to do proper scrutiny and rushing things wouldn't be right.

Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said the government was "absolutely not" sitting on the report and holding it back until the general election was finished.

Downing Street says the report needs to be properly checked before being published, a highly important matter considering the potentially sensitive nature of the information the report might contain.

Gove refused to further explain the government's decision over the report, which was finalised in March and referred to Downing Street on October 17. Downing Street has said the sign-off process normally takes around six weeks.

If procedures are being followed properly and it just so happens that the upcoming election will delay publication then there ought not to be a problem. It's better that such a potentially important report goes through the proper channels rather than being rushed.

The Counter Claim

Dominic Grieve, chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee which has been conducting the inquiry into potential Russian interference, said there was "no legitimate reason" for delaying the report.

He said he "cannot think of a reason" why the report can't be published right now after months of investigation. Grieve asked prime minister Boris Johnson to provide a specific reason why the report can't be published today.

Johnson has been accused of attempting a cover-up over the report, with the 50 page document given the thumbs up from intelligence agencies and referred to the prime minister over two weeks ago.

Edward Lucas writes in The Times that it's in the government's best interests to publish the report as soon as possible, lest the stench of suspicion hang over them during the election campaign. 

Surely the Conservatives, the party governing the UK for the past nine years, have nothing to fear from the report's contents and the British public has a right to know whether the government of another nation meddled in our democracy? 

It seems like information which might be useful for people to know before a major democratic event like a general election, particularly since campaigning for one is just about to start in earnest.

The Facts

If the report isn't published by the time parliament rises this evening then by standard procedure it won't be out before the general election is concluded. 

The general election requires a period of at least 25 working days for campaigning so if it isn't published today the findings won't be published until the votes have been cast.

UK security officials have said they see no reason why the report cannot be published "immediately" .

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These officials include former cabinet secretary Lord Butler, former national security advisor and chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee Lord Ricketts and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Anderson.

Lord Anderson said further delays to publication "invites suspicion" towards the government as people wonder why they wouldn't want the report to be out as soon as possible.

The report requires the approval of the prime minister before it can be published.