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28% feel accent discrimination

A poll conducted for ITV’s Tonight reveals that more than a quarter of Brits (28%) feel they have been discriminated against because of their regional accent with Londoners and Scots worst hit. The Liverpool accent was considered most unfriendly.

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Voice coach questions lack of accent discrimination law

Voice coach Helen Ashton told ITV's Tonight programme there are laws that make it illegal to discriminate on many factors but an accent is not one of them.

Watch Tonight on ITV at 7.30pm

Ms Ashton was speaking after a poll for the ITV programme showed that more than a quarter of Britons felt they had been discriminated against because of the way they speak.

Read: 28% of Britons feel discriminated against due to accent

Tell us what you think about the poll results on ITV News' Facebook page

Your view: Poll says Liverpool accent most unintelligent

The Liverpool accent sounds the most unintelligent while the Devon accent is the friendliest, according to a poll carried out by ITV's Tonight programme.

We asked ITV News' Facebook followers what they thought of the results, and here is a few of their views:

Love the scouse accent so much I married a scouser. The Brum accent or Black country accent sounds unintelligent to me.

– Tina Brophy

What does an intelligent accent even sound like? You can't compare the two, it's just silly! But since it's probably more about perception I'll give mine: the RP accent doesn't sound at all "intelligent" to me. If just sounds fake and snooty. I'm an east end Glaswegian.

– Li Sa

We have the usual 'trendy' cities being favoured, with Birmingham & Liverpool getting the drubbing as usual.

– Buzby Took

Watch Tonight on ITV at 7.30pm

Tell us what you think about the poll results on ITV News' Facebook page

Read: 28% of Britons feel discriminated against due to accent

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A fifth feel accent discrimination in social situations

More than a quarter (28%) of Brits feel they have been discriminated against because of their regional accent, a ComRes poll for ITV Tonight found.

This includes two in five Londoners (41%) and more than a third of Scots (37%).

Do you feel that you have ever been discriminated against in each of the following situations because of your regional accent, or not? Credit: ComRes

Just 6% said they had discriminated against others in the workplace due to their accent.

Have you ever personally discriminated against someone because they had a particular regional accent in any of the following situations? Credit: ComRes

You can watch "Accents speak louder than words: Tonight" on ITV on Thursday 26 September

Liverpool accent sounds most unintelligent, poll finds

The Liverpudlian accent is thought to be the most unintelligent, a ComRes poll found, with both the joint fewest people saying they find it intelligent (15%, along with Birmingham) and nearly two in five (37%) saying they find it unintelligent.

Three in five (62%) people believe that Received Pronunciation sounds intelligent, far ahead of the second placed Edinburgh accent, which two in five (38%) find intelligent.

Respondents were asked: How intelligent or unintelligent do you find the following accents to be? Credit: ComRes

You can watch "Accents speak louder than words: Tonight" on ITV on Thursday 26 September

The Liverpool accent was also considered most untrustworthy, with Received Pronunciation again scoring highest for trustworthiness.

People were asked: How trustworthy or untrustworthy do you find the following accents to be? Credit: ComRes

Poll: Liverpool accent considered most unfriendly

The "Scouse" accent from Liverpool was considered to be the most unfriendly in Britain, according to a ComRes poll conducted for a new ITV Tonight programme.

The Westcountry lilt from Devon came out on top for friendliness, with 65% rating it either fairly friendly or very friendly.

The Devon accent was thought to be the friendliest, while the Liverpool accent was the most unfriendly. Credit: ComRes

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