An Independent View: We need hope

When you read this, there will be six days - or fewer - to go before decisions are taken that will affect the lives of everyone in our city.

The meeting of "Budget Council" on Thursday (February 26) should be a landmark moment for the people of Brighton and Hove - and an opportunity for our political leaders to show their mettle.

As a city, we have never needed leadership more than now.

In recent months, Brighton and Hove Independent has tried to highlight the financial crisis almost all of us face - and almost none of us created.

It has also invited citizens to have their say. The latest results - after some 2,000 contributions - have been revealed. More details will be disclosed in the next few days.

The truth is no conceivable increase in council tax in a single year can bridge the Â£26 million funding gap.

We have done our best to highlight the choices offered by the three main political parties and by the 54 councillors who will gather at Hove Town Hall:

A 5.9% council tax rise proposed by a Green Party - 20 councillors - allegedly determined to resist government cuts by all possible means. Almost.

A council tax freeze proposed by a Conservative Party - 18 councillors - determinedly fixed on doing things differently. But how?

A 1.9% rise proposed by a Labour Party - 13 councillors - fiercely opposed to government cuts. Unless, perhaps, the government is a post-May-7 Labour government.

This week we highlighted the admirable campaign to keep all our children's centres open. We pay tribute not only to the campaigners, but also to The Argus newspaper for its sustained support for this excellent grassroots campaign.

For our part, we have also highlighted the shadow hanging over our third-sector organisations, our youth services, and our 16,000 poorest households hit by a 76% increase in council tax - pushed through by Labour's wrong-headed prioritisation of weakening the Council Tax Reduction scheme.

So, after weeks of politicking, what are we left with? More despair than hope? More questions than answers?

If the Green Party is so determined to resist all cuts by all possible means, why support a budget that contains cuts?

If the Conservative Party wants to absorb all government funding cuts and freeze council tax, how long will they adopt such a stance? Until there is no flesh left on the bone? Until there is no bone?

If the Labour Party rails against - and exaggerates - the cost of a government-imposed referendum, if a 5.9% rise is voted through, will a Labour government remove the 1.9% threshold? And if the council tax is so regressive, why does it propose an increase that is four times the rate of inflation?

An Independent View: We need hope - not despair