A regional daily whose patch voted strongly for Brexit has marked the anniversary of the European Union referendum with a poll which revealed a majority of those surveyed would now choose to remain.

The Sunderland Echo splashed on the survey today, with 63pc of 3,1000 polled stating they would now elect to stay in the EU.

Sunderland was among the first areas to declare in last June’s referendum, with 61pc of people in the city voting Leave.

In the run-up to referendum day, more than 5,200 people took part in an Echo poll, with 3,828 readers saying they favoured leaving the EU.

But since then voters in Sunderland seem to have changed their mind, with Friday’s result echoing that of a similar poll run by the Echo in December – with 61pc of 3,000 readers polled stating they would vote remain.

Following last June’s referendum, the Echo called on the New York Times to apologise for a piece it ran exploring the reasons why voters chose Leave in Sunderland.

The Times said the vote had “exposed deep regional divisions and a rift between classes”.

However, Times reporter Kimiko De Freytas-Tamura, responded that she had written the article in good faith to try find out why the city voted the way it did.