Gordon Brown has by sleight of hand used council tax increases to lighten voters' pockets by a sum equivalent to a 1p increase in income tax.

The extra tax burden has been much greater in Brighton and Hove as a result of the spendthrift policies of the local Labour council.

All this seemed bad enough to me until I learned Brighton and Hove Council failed to collect £5 million in council tax in 1998/99 and a further £1 million in 1999/00. These are truly scandalous figures and betray not only the council's gross inefficiency but Labour's readiness to condone criminal behaviour.

Zero tolerance is preached for a wide variety of politically correct causes favoured by our left wing Town Hall. Why cannot it apply a similar policy to council tax dodgers?

-Michael Williams, Roedean Road, Brighton