Bristol City Council has been forced to amend a European Union referendum voting guide after claims it was biased towards the Remain campaign.

Complaints had been raised over the fact one of the pictorial instructions on how to vote showed a pencil hovering over the Remain box. 

The council insisted it was not trying to influence the vote but would amend future literature given the ‘current sensitivities'.

A council spokesman said: ‘This form is designed to explain the logistics of voting by post and not to suggest how someone should vote.

‘The placement of the pen graphic was entirely incidental and we do not believe that anybody could reasonably be influenced by such a graphic.

‘However, given current sensitivities, for all future postal vote dispatches the form and graphic will be amended.'