A COUNCIL has been slammed for telling staff not to talk about “hard-working families”.

Woke diversity chiefs reckon the saying could make those without a job feel “undeserving”.

But the apparently offensive phrase has been popular with politicians for decades.

PM Sir Keir Starmer even promised that Labour would “give hard-working families their future back” ­during last year’s election campaign.

Wokingham Council in Berkshire, which issued the diktat in its inclusive language guide, also warned staff that “sustained eye contact could be considered aggressive” in some cultures.

And it has told staff not to use words such as “blacklist” or “whitewash” because they could be considered racist.

The guide advised: “Talking about ‘hard-working families’ implies those who are not working are undeserving.”

Free Speech Union chief Toby Young said: “Of course, it would be Wokingham borough council that came up with this.

“I expect the next step will be to delete the last two syllables of their name so it becomes Woke Borough Council.

“More inclusive that way because the hard of understanding will get what the council’s all about.”

Last year, The Sun revealed that Sunderland City Council had banned the phrase “working class” because it was too British.

Instead, they wanted staff to describe labourers as “people with fewer financial resources”.

Wokingham Borough Council failed to respond to a request for comment.

Woke Cardiff University bosses have told students not to say “kill two birds with one stone” or “piece of cake” as they are “very British-English” and will baffle foreign students.