The headline reporting a council tax increase of five times the rate of inflation (The Argus, January 31) is a shocking indictment of the tax-and-spend policies of our spendthrift Labour council since it assumed full control of local government service in 1997.

Since then and in a period of low inflation, the inept Brighton and Hove City Council has increased council tax by a whopping 55 per cent - talk about giving profligacy a bad name.

What have council taxpayers go to show for their eye-watering bills? Filthy streets, uncollected rubbish, unrepaired roads, a huge increase in the army of bureaucrats, pen-pushers and car-parking attendants, abysmal management and uncontrolled budgets.

Most certainly, council taxpayers have not seen a 55 per cent increase in the level and efficiency of services.

Unlike in other southern cities, this Labour council does not trust the people and refuses to give taxpayers the opportunity to vote on the level of council tax in a local referendum. The council elections in 2003 cannot come soon enough.

-Michael Williams, Roedean Road, Brighton