Councillors have been using Twitter to lambast opponents while they are sitting opposite them in the council chamber.

Rivals have been using the social networking website via their mobile phones to criticise each other even as they take part in debates.

Tech-savvy members of Brighton and Hove City Council have been increasingly using the micro-blogging site in recent months, leading to the latest developments.

During the latest spate of "tweets" in the council's annual budget-setting meeting last Thursday, the council leader Mary Mears' speech was branded "dire" while she was still speaking.

In one post Green councillor Jason Kitcat, whose comments are followed by more than 370 people, said: "And we're off. Cllr Mears is presenting her dire Tory budget at Brighton and Hove City Council's budget setting meeting."

Moments later Labour councillor Warren Morgan added his version of events to his 250 Twitter followers. He said: "Tory council leader embarks on budget speech, a party political broadcast for which she has unlimited time..."

The pair continued to make comments online throughout the four hour meeting, with Coun Kitcat at one stage even responding to a message by Coun Morgan to debate a point.

Their fellow councillors Ben Duncan, Vicky Wakefield-Jarrett and Alex Phillips have all also used Twitter via their mobiles at recent meetings.

Councillor Mears said she considered it rude for members to be "tweeting" while others were speaking at the council but said she would not be seeking a ban.

Her Conservative colleague councillor Brian Oxley, the chairman of the governance committee, said it was a new issue for the council and one he wanted to look at.

A council spokesman said its constitution specified that members should not use any mobile telephony while inside the council chamber, but that they were permitted to leave the room to use them.