Council workers claim they are being told not to use the word green over fears it is increasing support for the Green Party.

Officers at Brighton and Hove City Council say they are instead being asked to replace the word with "sustainable" or "environmentally-friendly."

A council contractor said: "There's no official policy but since the Tory administration came into power there has been increasing talk about not using the word green because of its association with the Green Party."

However, council bosses have denied the claims.

A spokesman said: "There is absolutely no advice, official or otherwise, being given to council staffnot to use the word green."

Council leader Mary Mears said the claims were nonsense and added: "I have better things to be doing with my time than worrying about what words staff are using."

Green councillor Paul Steedman said councillors had heard from officers there was a general culture of them being discouraged from using the word green .

He added that it was the "height of absurdity" that the word was being shunned for fear of giving his party a poll boost.