Council workers who were refused a £2,000 pay rise have reacted angrily at news councillors could get a significant increase in their allowances.

Elected members on Brighton and Hove City Council receive a basic allowance of £8,000 a year but an independent panel is recommending it should increase to £10,195 a year.

Other payments could also go up, including a rise of 25 per cent on rates for meals such as breakfast, lunch and tea which will be £6.50, £8.50 and £3.50, respectively.

The panel which made the recommendations said councillors were having to do much more work because their number has been reduced from 78 to 54.

But the announcement has infuriated council staff who called for a £2,000 Brighton-weighting allowance to be added to their salaries to help cover the soaring cost of living in the city.

The bid was refused and Unison is considering balloting members for industrial action.

Andy Richards, who chairs the Brighton and Hove branch of Unison, said: "This is double standards.

"They have turned down our claim and believe they are justified in increasing their own rise by saying they have fewer people to do their jobs.

"So do our members - the workforce has been shrunk over the years."

Mr Richards said his office had been inundated with complaints.

"We're going to raise this formally with the council."

Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas, who represents the South-East, has supported Unison's claim.

She said: "The cost of living is spiralling in Brighton and Hove. This claim, like calls from many other trade unions, recognises hundreds of people are being priced out of the city."

The council's own draft housing strategy acknowledges the difficulty for workers in the city.

The report states someone wanting to buy a one-bedroom flat in Brighton and Hove would need an income of about £37,000 a year.

The average annual income in the city recorded in 2002 was £23,051 a year.