DUP targets English voters for funds with pro-Brexit adverts

Northern Ireland’s pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is running ads on Facebook to raise money in England only as part of a new fundraising drive on social media. The party’s “Support Brexit – Support the DUP” ads are being shown mostly to people over the age of 55 – an age group that voted in the majority for Brexit - and only in England where the party has no candidates. Facebook data on the ad, which features photographs of DUP leader Arlene Foster and deputy leader Nigel Dodds, says it was being shown only to people living in England. Some 37 per cent of the people being shown the ad were aged 65 years or older and a further 25 per cent are aged between 55 and 64, according to the data on the ad. The ad had been viewed between 5,000 and 10,000 times since it began running on Tuesday, just weeks ahead of European and local elections.