Labour councillors have pledged to launch a “Fairness Commission” if they gain control of Brighton and Hove City Council at the next election.

Labour in Brighton and Hove has announced that it will set up a comprehensive enquiry aimed at tackling inequality and poverty in the city if elected next May.

The group says the commission will follow on the examples of similar taskforces held already in ten towns and cities across the country.

The commission, which will be funded within existing council budgets, will look at reducing health inequalities, tackling youth unemployment and improving access to affordable housing and supporting tenants in the private rented sector.

Labour councillors say the commission is necessary to tackle widening health inequalities showing the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived people in the city is now more than 10 years for men and six years for women.

It is proposed the commission would have an independent chair, call on leading figures from across the city, take evidence from residents and people working in the field, and complete its work within a year.

Labour Leader Councillor Warren Morgan said: "With more than 3,000 people in our city using food banks every day, and growing numbers of people in work finding themselves living below the poverty line, we need to take action to help those families out of debt, out of poverty and into secure homes and better paid jobs.

"A Fairness Commission, similar to those set up in over a dozen cities and London boroughs, would gather evidence and take targeted action to achieve those goals.”