Cllr Warren Morgan is a desperate man. He claims in a recent letter that the Green administration proposal of a 5.9% council tax rise for the next financial year is to enable Caroline Lucas to get voted in again. Really?

The real reason we are proposing a 5.9% council tax rise for next year is because it's right for our city. We want to go some way to shielding much-needed public services from a reduction in government funding that will cost us at least £25m next year.

£25m is more than the cost of our libraries, youth services, Cityparks, the planning service, sports facilities and child protection work put together.

A 5.9% increase won't cover the gap but it will help. And it adds up to a less-than-inflation rise over the period of the Green administration.

Labour claims that we’re making the poorest pay for services and that 11,000 people in poverty in the city will suffer. On the contrary: he should know that many of this group will suffer from reduced services if we have to make extra cuts.

He should also know that 16,800 people in the city get council tax reduction whereby they only pay 8.5% of council tax.

Maybe he’s forgotten that over the ten years under Labour in this city, when a similar proportion of residents lived in poverty, the AVERAGE council tax rise was 8.3% a year.

It's a pity that once again Labour is putting party before city. Why won’t they work with us on this?

Ollie Sykes City Councillor (Green party), Brunswick and Adelaide Ward, Lead Member for Finance