An investigation has been launched to find out if Government ministers interfered with the future of a city's council housing.

A decision over the future of Brighton and Hove's 16,000 council homes was pulled from a full council meeting agenda at the last moment in January.

Councillors at Brighton and Hove City Council had been expected to decide to keep ownership of housing stock rather than transfer it to a housing association or private company.

But the Government wants councils to offload their homes to a housing association and some councillors claimed the item was removed from the agenda to keep the Government happy.

A council scrutiny committee voted on Tuesday to launch a full investigation into the issue.

Councillor Jack Hazlegrove said: "I stake my political life on this issue. What happened last January went against the constitution of the council.

"The central issue here is that officers should advise and members decide. We were not even allowed to debate the issue and that is not what democracy is about."

Council leader Ken Bodfish had tried to delay the decision on housing four days before the meeting but was opposed by the other party leaders and his Labour housing chairmen Coun Hazlegrove and Kevin Allen.

At the last minute, a letter arrived from Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's office which Coun Bodfish and senior officers said contained "fresh information", meaning the vote had to be postponed.

Council chief executive Alan McCarthy visited mayor Pat Drake at home on the morning of the meeting and she agreed to pull the decision off the agenda.

Councillors Hazlegrove and Allen resigned in disgust and a motion of no confidence in Coun Bodfish was passed by the rest of the council.

Coun Allen, who called for Coun Bodfish's resignation following the debacle, said: "The actions and motives of the leader and the chief executive need to be brought into the open."

The postponement of the vote meant the council missed this year's deadline for applying for Government funding to repair their homes.

Coun Bodfish did not want to comment until after the inquiry as he may be called to give evidence and Mr McCarthy was unavailable for comment.