Brexit poll unmasked as 'hoax' by BMG Research
Updated : 16:45
A Brexit poll purported to have been carried out by research firm BMG Research, which was then published in newspaper and City analysts' reports, has been dismissed as 'a hoax' by the firm.
Overnight the online poll, reported as "via BMG", showed a 45%-41% share of votes in favour of the Leave campaign, with the Remain camp falling behind by three percentage points.
The poll appeared to have first been posted by the BritainElects account on Twitter, which was then included in a report by the Guardian and included in JP Morgan's analysis of the referendum on Wednesday.
Another, different poll reported as being from BMG showed a 52%-48% and was published by the EuropeElects Twitter account.
However Birmingham-based BMG said on Wednesday morning: "Appears there has been a hoax. We have not released our latest polling."
The company said via Twitter that its press release list will receive details of the next polls on Wednesday night.
Britain elects later noted that the BMG poll was confirmed to be a hoax. "Someone went out of their way to create a fake press release."
JP Morgan said its polls analysis still showed Leave in the lead after it had removed the hoax poll.