LONDON (Reuters) - There is no evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 Brexit referendum and Britain's spies did not take their eyes off the ball on Russia, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday.


"There needs to be some evidence that there's an issue there - which there isn't," Shapps told Sky when asked if there should be a further investigation of possible Russian meddling in the European Union referendum.


The British parliament's intelligence and security committee said in a report published on Tuesday that there were open source indications that Russia had sought to influence the Brexit campaign but no hard evidence had been produced.


"I don't think its the case that the intelligence services took their eye off the ball," Shapps told Sky. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Sarah Young)