Independent View: It is not fair, not right

We are all in it together. So we are told.

Whether you agree or not with austerity as an economic strategy for the many - rather than a euphemism for protecting the profits of the few - politicians have difficult decisions to make. It is the price of being in power.

For the rest of us, our responsibility is speaking truth to power.

And, in the case of the proposal to impose a 67% council tax rise on the 14,655 poorest households, the truth is obvious: it is not fair, it is not right, and it must not happen.

The current Labour-led administration has apparently decided everyone else should not have to pay more than an extra 1.9% in council tax for each of the next four years. To decide otherwise would require a referendum.

But there is no referendum for poor people, for whom every penny is important. Their voices are rarely heard - and even more rarely listened to.

The people who suffer the most are concentrated in the most-deprived parts of the city - such as East Brighton or Moulsecoomb and Bevendean - represented by only Labour councillors.

Changing the Council Tax Reduction scheme is, literally, the last thing a Labour-led council should be doing.

By contrast, the proposal to merge Hove Library with Hove Museum - if done well - could be a pointer to the sort of efficiency savings the council should focus on. It makes you wonder why these have not been done before, on a much bigger scale.

Perhaps the council should sell off not only Hove Library, but also some of its restaurants and cafÃ©s.

Rather than sell our poorest neighbours down the river.

Five days to save 14,655 of our poorest neighbours from a 67% tax rise

Independent View: It is not fair, not right '“ and must not happen

To complete the full consultation questionnaire, visit: www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Sign the petition: "Say No to a tax attack on the poor in Brighton and Hove"

Independent View: It is not fair, not right - and must not happen