A group of opposition councillors will today seek to knock eight pounds off the average council tax bill.

The Tories on Brighton and Hove City Council will propose an alternative budget which would see Band D households charged £1,269.45 for 2006/7 - a rise of 4.09 per cent.

This is £8.42 less than that proposed under the Labour-Lib Dem budget, which would raise tax by 4.9 per cent.

The budget and council tax is to be set at today's full council meeting, where Labour finance councillor Simon Burgess is expected to be named council leader following the resignation of Ken Bodfish.

The Conservatives, with 20 councillors, may have stood a chance of seeing their budget enacted if they had won the backing of the Green Party's six members and two Independent councillors.

But the absence of Conservative Group leader Garry Peltzer Dunn and Councillor Lynda Hyde, who are both unable to attend the meeting, will leave the party with the tough challenge of overturning the combined 26 votes of Labour and the Lib Dems.

Conservative finance councillor Brian Oxley admitted the difference between his and Labour's budget was not huge but said if Tory proposals had been accepted over the past five years the savings would have added up to millions of pounds.

Coun Oxley said: "It's not a lot but it's something - we want to do as much as we can for the taxpayer.

"Had our proposals for the past five budgets been accepted Brighton and Hove would be paying £7 million less in council tax."

He continued: "Although this year's local government grant settlement has been our toughest yet, the Conservative group is still fighting tooth and nail to protect the council tax payer from unfair tax rises and deliver value for money."

To pay for the curb on council tax rises the Conservatives would scrap a planned £160,000 study into the King Alfred redevelopment, which they said would put the brakes on Frank Gehry's project.

Coun Oxley, who wants the leisure centre built on Hove seafront but the homes moved elsewhere, said: "It is unacceptable that residents should pay increased council tax for a development which cannot be supported by the city's infrastructure and will not solve the housing problems in Brighton and Hove."

The Tories will also try to save money by ending the council's affiliation to the South East England Regional Assembly and axing £150,000 from the council's communications budget.