Brighton and Hove has been earmarked as one of Conservative Central Office's top priorities in the May elections, The Argus can reveal.

The Tory leader David Cameron has already visited Hove last month, marking the council as a key battleground in a bid to re-establish his party in major cities.

Conservative group leader Brian Oxley believes a victory in Brighton and Hove would mark the party's increasing popularity among urban liberals. It is a voting group which was snatched by Tony Blair in the mid-Nineties and Mr Cameron has been closely courting it.

Councillor Oxley refused to reveal the scale of support from Central Office, although he confirmed he was receiving backing.

Rumours of regular visits from Conservative HQ in Millbank over the past year have been circulating but remain unsubstantiated.

The city council is currently hung, with Labour holding 23 seats and the Conservatives 19.

Both parties believe that just a few hundred votes in a few key wards - including East Brighton, Goldsmid and Hangleton - will decide the future colour of the council.

Councillor Oxley said: "We did have David Cameron come down and it shows where the priorities are for the Conservative Party.

"There is a sense that a change is needed in Brighton and Hove and I am cautiously optimist that the Conservatives will provide that."

The Tories are the last party to release their manifesto, which will be published next week.

Labour are facing a two-pronged attack from both the Blues and the Greens, who are hoping to pick up seats in wards like Queen's Park.

Council leader Simon Burgess said the Labour party received little central money.

He added that previously available administrative support was not offered because of cutbacks following the cash-for-honours scandal which led to major donors demanding repayments on loans.

Councillor Burgess said: "This is a wake-up call to people in this city who do not believe the Conservatives could win."

Some are predicting that Labour's vote could fall to as low as ten seats but this is dismissed by Councillor Burgess.

Councillor Paul Elgood, Lib Dem campaign manager, said his party was aiming at increasing its presence in the council chamber from three to between nine and 12.

He said: "We are getting a great response because people are very unhappy with Labour and they do not trust the Tories.

"Our quality of life message is working very well."

Green convener Keith Taylor also believes his party could reach 12 councillors by May 4.

He said: "The Conservative focus is not in central Brighton, where our seats are, but nationally they can see that green issues are popular with voters.

"But then the Conservatives get to power and forget their aspirations and revert to the values of polluting and privatising."

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