CAMPAIGNING for the EU referendum is heating up, with a number of Vote Leave signs and placards being vandalised and stolen across the South Hams.

Members of Devon Out, a local Eurosceptic group campaigning to leave the European Union, have reported the theft and destruction of their campaign materials to local police.

The damage included a double board at Fowlescombe Cross near Ugborough being hacked to pieces; signs attached to a fences at Borough Farm near East Allington and Island Farm at Stumpy Cross being graffitied, so as to say ‘Don’t Vote Leave’; and a board near Stokenham being completely removed.

Ceri Jayes, from the Devon Out campaign pointed out that all boards had been erected with the permission of the landowner.

Devon Out have been campaigning hard in recent weeks, organising a debate and a screening of ‘Brexit the Movie’ at Kingsbridge Community College.

District and county councillor Julian Brazil, who spoke at the debate in favour of remaining in the EU, said: ‘I’ve had plenty of my posters damaged over the years, it’s part and parcel of an election campaign.

‘Of course people shouldn’t do it, but it’s part of the rough and tumble of politics.

‘I haven’t seen any Vote Remain campaign material damaged, mainly because there don’t appear to be any up in the South Hams!

‘I don’t see it as a deliberate attempt to pull them down, I imagine it to be people returning from the pub.’

Ceri Jayes from Devon Out said: ‘It’s very disappointing. If they wanted to make a point, why didn’t they come to the debate?

‘Or raise money, make their own signs and find a landowner to display them?’

The Devon Out campaign decided the best way to tackle the graffiti was to turn up with their own can of spray paint, and paint over the ‘n’t’ from ‘don’t - so it now reads ‘Do Vote Leave’.

In last week’s Gazette, Sgt Dave Green from Kingsbridge police warned that defacing campaign material is a criminal offence.

He said: ‘Based on local experience from past general elections, it is equally possible that a small minority of people will think it acceptable to deface or destroy such material.

‘He said defacing campaign materials is a criminal offence and is also an ‘affront to democracy’.

‘It is a clear indication that those who engage in such acts of vandalism do not have sufficient faith in their own cause to win the day by mature argument.’

Cllr Brazil added: ‘I’ve just driven past a big Vote Leave sign along Paignton Road, and it’s fallen down.

‘If they don’t put up their signs properly, what do they expect?

‘Perhaps they should get some Europeans to help them out!’

The Devon Out group will be continuing their campaign across the South Hams in the run-up to the referendum on Thursday, June 23.