A LOCAL band have been banned from performing at this year's Morton Stanley Festival after allegedly being called a 'political risk'.

Chaos Experience will no longer be playing on the Saturday evening and will be replaced by an alternative band.

Redditch Borough Council, which cancelled the group saying the event 'is not the place to air political messaging', has not said who the replacement band will be.

Portfolio holder for leisure councillor Mike Rouse, said: “When the band was booked we were unaware of the highly politicised content of their material.

“As this became apparent we decided it wasn’t suitable for a family-friendly and taxpayer-funded event such as Morton Stanley and are currently seeking a replacement band.

"I am confident there is an appropriate event and venue for this act, it's just the Morton Stanley Festival isn't it whilst it’s funded by every taxpayer in the Borough.

"I am aware this will be a sensitive issue and some people will be disappointed, but the stage of the Morton Stanley festival isn't the place to air political messaging of any kind."

Commenting on facebook the punk rock band, formed last year, said they were banned from playing for having a three minute song about Brexit called Britain is Dead.

They said: "We have been accused of hijacking a festival and turning it into a rally and we have been called a 'political risk'. Punk has always been political and this is an infringement of freedom of speech and denies artists their right to expression."

They added that they offered to drop the song from their set but the council still would not let them play.

They said: "We will continue to play this outlawed song in our set and thank all our fans for their continued support."

The festival is on Saturday and Sunday, August 17 and 18.

This year’s main headline will be 90s chart toppers Republica.

Other headline acts include Skabucks, Visitation, and Pure Queen, as well as Indie singer/songwriter Ryan Sparrow.

The headline acts will be supported by hours of music by local bands and performers of all genres (although not punk).