A propaganda rag produced by Greenwich Council cost taxpayers more than £100,000 last year.

According to a Freedom of Information request by freelance journalist Bianca Pascall, the Greenwich Time newsletter, produced weekly by Greenwich Council, cost residents £102,001.

Over the last four years, the newsletter has cost the borough £582,990 with nearly £900,000 being spent on editorial staff over that time.

Parliamentary candidate for Eltham, Spencer Drury said: "It has been an expensive waste of taxpayers' money for too many years, distributed only to ensure the Labour Party can get its message across to residents on a weekly basis.

"The Labour party is cynically publishing this propaganda at tax payer's expense while flouting the law against weekly council publications.

"In addition to the costs of production, we can now add lawyers' fees meaning less is available for the vital services that residents depend on in this borough.

The council has been warned by Eric Pickles over distribution of Greenwich Time, which is currently against the law.

Local authorities are permitted to produce no more than four council newsletters a year and a government spokeswoman confirmed that it will soon be making its next steps on the matter She also said: "Spending on council newspapers and newsletters can not only waste taxpayers money but also undermines the independent free press.

"We have been very clear we expect councils to comply with the local government publicity rules.

"That's why we have written to a number of councils, including Greenwich, giving them opportunity to explain why steps should not be taken to direct them to comply with the rules.

The FOI also revealed Greenwich Council spent £261,588.37 on its communications team, which included money spent on brand awareness, public relations, press releases and staff costs.

A Greenwich Council spokeswoman said: "We have a legal duty to publish statutory notices about matters such as planning applications, highways and traffic information which incurs heavy advertising costs for local authorities.

"Producing our own weekly newspaper remains the most cost-effective way of fulfilling this duty and making sure every household in the borough receives the information, plus essential information about housing, jobs, council services and local news.

"We remain committed to keeping costs as low as possible whilst aiming to ensure the whole borough can receive the information above."