Confusion remains over an Election hustings poll after claims of "manipulation" and "rigging".

The fall-out from the poll where members of the public were invited to vote on the St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire candidate they were most likely to vote for at the Election, continues with social media posts pointing the finger at supporters of the Labour candidate Marianna Masters amid suggestions on X that she has now been disqualified from the poll.

The Hunts Post has approach the Labour campaign team who described the debacle as "nonsense" and then responded with "no comment" when pushed to defend the allegations.

The hustings was hosted on June 13 at Love's Farm House, in St Neots, by the Love's Farm Association and saw the candidates: Anthony Browne (Conservative) Stephen Ferguson (Independent) Kathryn Fisher (Green) Marianna Masters (Labour) Ian Sollom (Lib Dem) and Bev White (Party of Women) debating topical issues. Guy Lachlan (Reform UK) candidate did not attend the event.

After the debate, the audience were asked to vote in an online poll, accessed via a QR code, which asked them to answer two questions. The first was 'Who are you most likely to vote for based on what you heard tonight'. 

The second question posed, was about the candidate people found most impressive

It is this first question that the Love's Farm Community Association, and others, claim was "manipulated". 

In a statement they said: "To ensure we stay in keeping with our constitution we cannot comment any further on the matter. The LFCA is following all correct procedures and the relevant authorities have been informed.

In the days after the poll, the LFCA put out a public statement and named the Labour team as being responsible, but this has since been removed and currently they are not naming a particular candidate or party as being responsible.

The current statement reads: "Love's Farm Community Association has received evidence that clearly shows intentional and targeted efforts by some, to manipulate our General Election Hustings exit poll. Therefore, we have removed the polling results from our media.

"We approached the event and exit polling in good faith that participants would behave with integrity. We are greatly disappointed by the actions of a small number of participants.

"The poor behaviour of this group of supporters also reflects negatively on our Community Association. For our part, we apologise to all of the candidates involved in our event.

"We hope that the actors involved will delete any promotion of our manipulated polling results and swiftly issue an apology to the candidates, organisers and hosts of the event."

Independent candidate Stephen Ferguson has said in a recent Twitter post that Marianna Masters is now "disqualified" from the poll. The Hunts Post has been unable to verify this with the LFCA.

The Hunts Post has approached LFCA for further comment about whether a complaint has been made to the Electoral Commission, but has received no response.

Recommended Reading: St Neots General Election debate at Love's Farm House