THE Scottish Government will not be asking its staff to stop using the word Brexit after the UK Government introduced new rules.

The Tory government in London has told its civil servants to stop using the term Brexit, referring instead to the date “December 31, 2020”.

A style guide for officials, published on the UK Government’s website, says to avoid the word Brexit unless “providing historical context”.

The guide states: "You can use the term Brexit to provide historical context, but it's better to use specific dates where possible. For example, use December 31, 2020 rather than Brexit or when the UK left the EU."

READ MORE: What are the new Brexit rules coming in on January 1?

The Labour administration in Wales has made a similar move, telling staff: "Brexit has happened. Use transition period to refer to the time between February 1 and December 31, 2020."

The guidelines also state that officials should say UK Government rather than HM Government.

An SNP spokesperson said the rule change showed the Tories were “toiling to find ways to mask all the negatives associated with Brexit”.

"Rest assured no grammatical spin will hide the fact that Brexit is damaging people, businesses, livelihoods, communities and the economy in Scotland each and every day”, they added.

A Scottish Government spokesperson later confirmed that there were “no plans” north of the Border to phase out the use of the word Brexit.

They said it was still “a widely understood term for the UK leaving the EU”.