As I watched the election results coming in from the 166 local authorities which elected new councillors, I couldn't help but wish there had been 167.

Last year residents hesitated and allowed Labour another four years to use Brighton and Hove as an experimental laboratory for New Labour ideas and pet projects.

A year later, with rubbish piled high on our streets, graffiti and vandalism rife, elderly people in fear of leaving their homes and council tax rises three times the rate of inflation, Ken Bodfish can't believe his luck.

It's time the Liberal Democrats and Greens stopped propping up this tired Labour administration and started supporting the Conservatives in holding Labour to account.

It's all very well Labour's health secretary saying that a few fags is the only pleasure the working classes have to enjoy but, after all these years of Labour rule, if that's all he can boast, it's a sad reflection on years of wasted opportunity.

-David Gold, Kemp Town