Never believe politicians when they come creeping around to suggest a referendum so that we can have our say.

The real reason is either to get them out of trouble with their own parties or to cause trouble with their rivals.

In the 1970s, British people were given no choice about whether we entered the Common Market or not.

But Prime Minister Harold Wilson later held a referendum on whether we stay in to end Labour Party feuding.

Now David Cameron is proposing a similar referendum if he wins next year’s general election for purely political reasons.

In the meantime we had a poll in 2011 over whether or not to alter our first-past-the-post system of elections purely to placate the Liberal Democrats.

Brighton and Hove may soon be the first council in the country to hold a local referendum on whether to increase council tax by 4.75 per cent instead of sticking to the levels laid down by the Government.

This scandalous proposal is being put forward by the minority Green administration in a bid to counter bad publicity and unpopularity generated by many previous decisions.

As a clever wheeze they intend to hold the poll the same day in May as the European elections in which the Greens are expected to do well.

It is by no means the first referendum to have been held in the resort. Residents in Hove triggered a town poll in 1966 on whether to pull down the Palmeira ramps to create a seafront dual carriageway...

There were two in Brighton a little later on whether to approve the Marina and the roads needed for it.

When Steve Bassam was council leader in Brighton, he staged a vote on whether there should be a new football stadium at Falmer. The result was not binding but proved useful for stadium supporters.

The council tax vote will be binding and will cost voters a six figure sum to stage it. It will be held three months after decisions have been taken in the budget and if the levy has to be changed as a result that will be costly.

Many voters will take the view I do – that having cast a vote for councillors in 2011, I expect them to make decisions on our behalf whether I supported them or not. I don’t want to vote again to get Greens out of a hole.

If more money is needed to fund adult social care, as has been suggested, the best way of funding it would be to strip councillors of their allowances and expenses, currently costing us a seven figure sum.

Further reductions in bureaucracy could easily be made by scrapping the expensive, time wasting system of committees.

The whole sorry business does make me wonder how much we need democracy at a local level. Ninety per cent of council business goes ahead whatever party is in power and much of the spending is dictated by central government.

If councils are in the power of one party all the time, they tend to become complacent and even corrupt. If no party has a majority as in Brighton and Hove, an inordinate amount of time has to be spent on political manoeuvring.

There is little interest by local people in local politics. Only one in three votes in municipal elections and just a scattering of anoraks tends to turn up to most meetings.

Over the years democratic control has been gained or lost over several functions in an arbitrary manner.

Water and sewage used to be run in some towns by councils and the service does not appear to have worsened since the water companies took over. Buses in Brighton and Hove seem to be slightly better since the council stopped running some of them.

There does not seem to be much point in having local education departments when the Government has its own education service and many schools now run themselves.

The standard of debate in many councils is poor and the quality of candidates offered by parties can be ludicrously low.

All too often the results of local elections mean that novices with no experience of running anything are put in charge of departments with multi-million pounds budgets. They can frequently interfere with services rather than improving them.

Decisions about the size and scope of local democracy can wait but action should be taken now on this pointless referendum in the city. Labour and the Tories can combine and vote it out next month.

Although there are currently no Lib Dems on the council, activists could be asked for their views if any can be spared from hounding Lord Rennard.

The referendum is a costly and cynical exercise which could and should be scrapped.