THE painting of the Spinnaker Tower has been hit by a fresh setback.

As reported by the Daily Echo, Portsmouth council bosses performed a u-turn over the colour of the new design under a rebranding deal with airline Emirates – with the tower initially set to be painted in Saints’ red and white colours.

After changing the design to blue, white and gold, the work has been postponed and a council spokesman said it was due to delivery of blue paint from Lancashire being delayed.

The u-turn came after more than 10,000 people signed a petition opposing the use of red and white and blue was then chosen to reflect Portsmouth Football Club.

Emirates will pay the council around £3.5m over five years and the tower will be called the Emirates Spinnaker Tower with the deal starting in time for the America’s Cup World Series sailing event in July.

The 560ft (170m) tower opened in 2005 and is owned by the council but run by a private company.

More than 100 litres of red paint had been purchased by the airline for the original work.