From The Week:
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has called for a ban on hedge funds and others being able to commission private exit polls to inform bets on the outcome of the EU referendum.
The Financial Times reported yesterday that a large number of financiers and others, including banks, are approaching polling organisations to commission exit polls and even obtain hourly updates on voting trends throughout 23 June.
“By finding out the voting patterns early… and predicting the result, entrepreneurial traders can lay big bets on the result, hoping to be the first to benefit financially from a government-induced swing in sterling,” the paper says.
But Watson has angrily attacked the practice of pollsters selling private data in this way. “Information about a historic vote that will shape the future of our continent should be made available to everyone at the same time, not shared among a privileged few whose only motive is to gain financially,” he told The Guardian.
Calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to “put measures in place to prohibit this avaricious plan”, he also took a swipe at the wider opinion polling industry.