The Liberal Democrats have again come under fire for their use of mock newspapers afer resurrecting the name of a long-defunct title.

The Poole and Dorset Herald circulated in the mid-Dorset area from 1846 and is believed to have ceased publication some time in the 1970s.

Now the Liberal Democrats have published a campaign leaflet, the Mid-Dorset and North Poole Herald, which echoes the name of the defunct title.

It is the latest in a series of instances of the party using fake newspapers to get its campaign message across, a tactic which has been widely criticised within the industry.

Earlier this year the Lib Dems took the name of the Hitchin Gazette, a weekly newspaper which closed in 1998, for a leaflet circulated in the Hertfordshire town.

Since the election was called, they have continued to produce mock newspapers in which the only mention of the party is in very small text beneath the masthead – prompting complaints from readers as well as local news publishers.

The Poole and Dorset Herald is thought to have been owned by a predecessor company of Newsquest, whose daily title the Bournemouth Echo nowadays covers the same patch.

Its editor James Johnson described the party’s continued use of the practice as “embarrassing.”

He told HTFP:  “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then we should be delighted that the Liberal Democrats have again decided to print a fake newspaper copying our work. In reality, it just feels a little sad.

“I am very sure that voters will see through this paper-thin ploy but it is still embarrassing for the Lib Dems that the practice is continuing.

“Vikki Slade is clearly desperate to have her name on a positive front page story but perhaps her time would be better spent doing something constructive to justify a real one.

“Under her watch Bournemouth is hitting regional and national headlines for all the wrong reasons and I can’t imagine a fake newspaper will make voters forget that.”

The South West branch of the National Union of Journalists has called on all political parties to “stop trying to con voters” by publishing fake newspapers.

It has highlighted a series of partisan ‘newspapers’ circulating in the region including the Greens’ Bristol Central News, the Lib Dems’ South Gloucestershire Today or South Gloucestershire View, described by its local Tory publishers as ‘your community magazine.’

South Gloucestershire Today was posted through letterboxes earlier this year to introduce voters to Claire Young, the Lib Dem candidate in Thornbury and Yate.

The party has since issued a second publication to promote Ms Young’s candidature, the Thornbury & Yate News Courier.

Branch vice-chair James Garrett said, “With the general election just a few weeks away, it’s important voters can trust the communications they receive.

“The National Union of Journalists is concerned that most, if not all, of the major political parties have practised a deceit on the public by presenting fake newspapers or magazines which look like independent publications but are, in fact, party political communications.

“These fake publications not only risk misleading the public but undermine trust in local journalism. There is more trust in local and regional news outlets than in national media, partly because local media are almost always politically neutral. The NUJ believes strongly in this neutrality.

“Why won’t parties do the decent thing, both by voters and by the values of independent journalism?”