Polling station staff in Newcastle could be given extra security if the UK has to hold European elections in May.
City council bosses say that additional measures could be put in place to ensure the safety of election staff, should there be a long extension to Brexit - something which they are certain would provoke "passionate" reactions from voters.
As things stand, the UK will leave the European Union with no deal on April 12. But if a major renegotiation of Brexit begins instead then this could require a long delay to the process that would mean the UK has to take part in the European Parliament elections in May.
Newcastle Labour councillor Dan Greenhough told civic centre bosses at a scrutiny committee meeting last week that the council would have to "think very carefully" about how to support staff at polling stations if those elections were to go ahead.
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Helen Dickinson, the council's assistant chief executive, replied: "We always have contingency plans for elections, we know what we would need to do if we were holding European elections in May.
"If that were to be the case we would work very closely with our partners, with the police, so that everybody was confident of the safety of those elections.
"There would be people with passionate views about whether we should have those elections or not, and that is something we would factor into our planning."
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Ms Dickinson added that the council has not stepped down its preparations for a no-deal Brexit, despite MPs voting to reject that prospect in Parliament last month.
She said: "Until we are absolutely confident that we won't be in that scenario we are continuing that."
The North East is expected to be the region worst hit by leaving the European Union, with its economy shrinking by more than 10% under a no-deal scenario according to Treasury analysis.
However, Ms Dickinson said she is now "more confident" about Newcastle's ability to cope with a no-deal exit after months of planning at the civic cente.
In the EU referendum in 2016, 50.7% of Newcastle voters backed Remain.
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