Reform has become embroiled in a furious row with Left-wing-run Bristol council after it banned mayoral candidate Arron Banks’ three-word slogan. Mr Banks, a well-known figure in the UKIP and Brexit movement, was unveiled as Nigel Farage’s candidate in his home patch of Bristol and West England.

He had already been using “Banksy for Bristol” as his motto, a play on his surname and the city’s famous anonymous graffiti artist. But with an hour to go before the council’s deadline for submitting election branding, including slogans, Mr Banks was informed he could not use this slogan. Reform has launched a furious attack against Bristol council’s intervention, accusing it of deliberately contriving to spoil its candidate’s election hopes.

In a letter to Mr Banks, Bristol council claimed they were disallowing the slogan due to concerns about copyright.

Hitting back, however, the party wrote a furious letter warning: “With respect, any such restriction would be legally misconceived, unjustified, and liable to immediate challenge.

“To compound matters, this was flagged to Mr Banks and his team with an hour to go before the deadline to publish his literature, essentially preventing any meaningful ability to contest this decision and effectively barring Mr Banks from running the campaign he had intended.

“Mr Banks has very publicly and openly been using this campaign slogan since his candidacy had been announced and we are extremely concerned that this ‘concern’ was not voiced at any time before it was too late to respond.

“On this basis, Mr Banks had to make the decision to either remove the slogan or have no campaign materials by the deadline.”

Reform also argued that if the unknown graffiti artist objected to Mr Banks’ slogan, he had ample time to inform the party or the council.

“No such objection has been received, and the suggestion that someone could mistake campaign materials featuring pictures and text from Arron Banks as intending to be a public ‘reveal’ of the long-held secret identity of the artist Banksy is laughable at best,” said Reform.

“The slogan is a clear linguistic play on Mr Banks’s surname. It is unmistakably political speech, not a commercial falsehood.

“There is no damage to goodwill, nor any actionable confusion. The common law tort of passing off has no application here.

“At no stage has Mr Banks attempted to assert he is connected with or competing with the artist Banksy. Mr Banks is standing for public office using a name he has been known by for the majority of his life as detailed in numerous public articles.”

Reform went on to accuse the council of “a deliberate contrivance brought at the eleventh hour to act as a spoiler to Mr Banks’ campaign and we will not tolerate this approach moving forward in this campaign”.

While the party told the council that Mr Banks had opted to remove his slogan “under duress”, a party source insisted the top Brexiteer and businessman would continue to use it.

Bristol council was approached for comment.