An election candidate for Brighton and Hove City Council has demanded the withdrawal of a leaflet circulated by a rival.

Councillor Jack Hazelgrove is demanding Ian Hills withdraws the newsletter he has been circulating in the Moulsecoomb and Bevendean ward.

He also wants UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate Mr Hills to visit every home he has leafleted in the run-up to May's election to apologise.

The war of words erupted when Mr Hills issued a leaflet which claimed the city council wanted a private company to run its housing, which would double rents.

Sitting Labour councillor Hazelgrove said the claim was untrue. He has now written to UKIP MEP Nigel Farage demanding action.

In his letter to Mr Farage, Coun Hazelgrove said: "This is a baseless falsehood.

"As chair of housing and Mr Hills' opponent in this election, I regard this statement as defamatory of me personally."

Coun Hazelgrove, who has been a councillor for 20 years, has taken legal advice to set the record straight.

The council is awaiting a report into the condition of its housing stock, due to be published in the summer, before any decision is made on its future.

Any decision would have to involve a ballot of tenants.

Coun Hazelgrove was a councillor in Maidstone, Kent, before he returned to Brighton and Hove.

He also led the Maidstone Against Privatisation campaign, when its housing stock was under threat of being transfered out of council control.

Coun Hazelgrove said Mr Hills' claim was scaremongering.

He said: "I'm having to spend a lot of time refuting Mr Hills' claims on people's doorsteps instead of talking about positive things."

He said Government rules meant the council could not double rents, whatever option was chosen.

Mr Hills said: "I didn't go out to attack Jack Hazelgrove. He's really taking this personally. It was an attack on the council because people believe the council wants to privatise the housing."

Mr Farage's political assistant, David Samuel-Camps replied to Coun Hazelgrove, refusing to comply with his demand for an apology and withdrawal of the leaflet.

Other candidates standing for the three seats in the Moulsecoomb and Bevendean ward are: Andrea Bain, Lib Dem; Joan Mary Champion, Con; Kate Elizabeth Louise Chapman, Green Party First Choice; Brian Clifford Dando, Con; Paul Edward Durden, Lib Dem; Jack Hazelgrove, Lab; Ian Ronald Hills, UK Independence Party; Bernard Edward Huggins, Lib Dem; Anne Meadows, Lab; Barry Mills, Green Party Second Choice; Ian George Needham, Green Party Third Choice; Martin Dalrymple Smith, Con; and Francis Tonks, Lab.