I live in Rottingdean Coastal Ward and am concerned to register a vote.

Apart from the voting papers dropped through my letterbox, I have heard nothing from any of the candidates.

I regularly read The Argus but note the election reportage is mainly about personalities and personal histories rather than political differences.

I think this not so much a reflection on the reporters as an indication that almost all the candidates are following a modern trend away from political commitment.

I want to vote against the BNP candidate and this party's politics of hate and exclusion.

Unfortunately, as far as I can make out, none of the other 12 candidates is prepared to make a stand against the BNP's election platform of irrational and prejudiced opposition to the use of the Ocean Hotel for short-term accommodation for a small number of asylum seekers.

If I am wrong on this, and other issues outlined below, I will gladly take this into account when I vote.

I work for a living and am a member of the T&GWU. Can any of the candidates publicly state they will take a protrade union view in dealing with staff relations in the council workforce?

Will they also state they are opposed to cuts in council services as a matter of principle and as a means of trying to get popular approval via council tax cuts at any price?

Will the 12 democratic candidates be prepared to make a statement that they are prepared to fight for council housing and other council services?

Will they also be prepared to make a principled public stand against the politics of hate, as well as the politics of personal greed into which our land has slipped?

-Rachael Webb, Brighton