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News website denies it is run by Liberal Democrats after Brexit poll results

lib demA regional news website has moved to deny it is edited by a Liberal Democrat after running a poll which showed a majority now oppose Brexit.

A survey run by Teesside Live on its Facebook page has suggested more than 62pc of more than 60,000 respondents would vote Remain should a confirmatory referendum on leaving the European Union be held.

The results contrast strongly with the actual result of the 2016 referendum in Teesside which saw 64pc of people Vote Leave.

However, the Reach plc-owned site has admitted there is evidence the poll had been shared in a number of pro-Remain Facebook groups since it was made live last week.

In a piece about the latest results of the survey, Teesside Live content editor Mike Brown said the poll was “intended to be a barometer of Brexit feeling on Teesside, but conceded there was no way to guarantee it could be representative.

Said Mike: “Within an hour of it being published, there was evidence it had been shared in a number of pro-Remain Facebook groups. In the hours after publishing, Remain was winning by a much greater margin than it is now.

“However, despite the speculation of some readers, the ‘editor’ is not a Liberal Democrat, nor did Teesside Live engineer the voting. Some Conservative councillors even speculated that as Teesside Live was ‘part of the Mirror group’, it had shared the poll in Remain groups itself to distort the results.

“Teesside Live is part of a stable of regional and national newspapers called Reach – which includes both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express, one of the biggest Brexit supporting national newspapers.

“In fact, Teesside Live and its reporters have no editorial stance on Brexit. In contrast with the results of the poll, which still has a few days left to run, the majority of comments left on the post are without a doubt from those who voted to Leave and haven’t changed their mind.”

Mike went on to add that the poll “did confirm just how entrenched people have become around the debate”, despite the results possibly being “unreliable”.

Speaking to HTFP, he said: “I was initially surprised by the number votes, but by following the comments left on our Facebook page and on local social media groups it became clear the poll had been shared nationally. This appeared to distort the results heavily towards Remain. The vast majority of those who commented, however, were Leavers who vociferously told us they were more determined than ever to see Brexit delivered.

“A concerted effort from Teesside-based Leavers saw the poll swing back slightly – but the results still currently show a clear 62/38 lead for Remain, from almost 62,000 votes. We’d intended the poll to be a barometer to try and understand how local people were feeling about Brexit, in what was a very pro-Leave area in 2016.

“It was to accompany other Brexit-related features we’ve worked on, which included spending the day in the most ‘pro-Brexit estate’ in Britain, accompanying two grandmothers on Nigel Farage’s Brexit march through Middlesbrough, and interviewing drinkers in the only ward in Middlesbrough that voted Remain.

“The reader reaction to this latest poll was interesting, but not surprising. Brexit has become so polarising that people can get angry when differing opinions are discussed – with one reader calling the poll ‘shameful’, and others accusing us of engineering the results.”

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  • October 24, 2019 at 11:33 am
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    If there was no way of guaranteeing it would be representative what was the point of running it. Oh yeah, pro Remain propaganda!

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  • October 24, 2019 at 1:36 pm
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    Did they check for any manipulation by Brexiteers of getting their supporters to vote? Or are we to assume they are simply too stupid to think of such a thing?

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