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Staff at the Swansea-based DVLA have been told not to express anti-EU views on Facebook or Twitter in the run up to the referendum.

Staff have been emailed and given a string of instructions about doing anything that “contradicts the government’s official position on EU membership”.

They are told that this guidance also applies to “the use of social media by civil servants in both their official and personal capacity and involvement in a personal capacity in campaigning connected to the referendum".

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the message to staff was “sort of thing you’d expect from the Politburo during the Cold War”.

The leaked email, which is sent to officials in junior management positions and above, says civil servants must be “especially careful” in the coming weeks and months.

It comes after Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood banned civil servants from helping ministers who are campaigning to leave the EU.

Nigel Farage: 'A culture of fear'

Ukip’s Mr Farage described the restrictions as “draconian”, saying: “I mean, this is utterly astonishing. It is abhorrent anyway that ministries are being controlled in this fashion, it’s the sort of thing you’d expect from the Politburo during the Cold War.

“But to disseminate these sorts of veiled threats... is extraordinary. It’s created a culture of fear where people are now afraid of what they can say and do privately and on their personal social media.

“This level of censorship and manipulation, wherever it is happening in the world, should and does receive very vocal criticism from leaders of democratic countries internationally. And yet here, in 21st century Britain, we have a Government that is currently acting more like a totalitarian regime.”

The leaked email tells staff

• “Departments should continue to support ministers in the normal way in developing and implementing government policy – however, it would not be appropriate or permissible for the civil service to support ministers in any activity that contradicts the government’s official position on EU membership, such as by providing briefing or speech material.”

• “Civil servants should not speak in their official capacity at external events about the referendum or work with or for campaign groups on either side of the debate, and they shouldn’t include campaign branding and avoid any direct reference to campaign groups when issuing any government statements or material, including written answers to parliamentary questions.”

• “Civil servants must be careful to explain the government’s position in a factual way.”

Nathan Gill: 'Considering a third of employment in Wales is in the public sector, I’m horrified'

Nathan Gill, the party’s Welsh leader, said no organisation had the right to “snoop on their personal interactions”.

Ukip Wales leader Mr Gill said he was “deeply concerned”, saying: “I have been told that people at DVLA are now terrified about what they can say and do in their private lives and in the office, for fear of losing their jobs.

"No organisation, Government-run or otherwise, has any right to close down the free speech of their employees, gag their staff or snoop on their personal interactions, especially during what absolutely must be a transparent and democratic process such as the EU referendum, which is of such significant national importance.

“Considering a third of employment in Wales is in the public sector, I’m horrified by this, absolutely horrified, and it is vital that people know this sort of censorship is now happening up and down the country.

"It has no place in any democracy and I am deeply concerned that this must be exposed and must stop at once.

“Every man and woman in Wales has a civic right to vote and campaign personally in whatever way they believe correct during this referendum. What sort of a country do we now live in?

“The general public need to know this is going on.”

A DVLA spokesman said the email pointed people towards guidance for civil servants that was already publicly available on the UK Government website.