Politics will not matter much if the city chooses to have a directly-elected mayor, says Tory deputy chairman Steve Norris.

He told the Yes for City Mayor campaign at a meeting of business leaders that people would judge mayors on what they did.

Mr Norris, who stood as Tory candidate to become Mayor of London, told the Grand Hotel meeting: "If they are successful they will be re-elected.

"The mayor gains and the community gains by having been enormously better governed."

Mr Norris cited examples in New York and Chicago, where mayors had been re-elected despite being of a different political hue to most of the people because they had delivered good services.

He said Dallas, which is far bigger than Brighton and Hove, was run effectively by a mayor and a team of seven.

Mr Norris said Brighton and Hove had 78 councillors and said: "No one would ever design a management in the private sector that had 78 people."

Businesswoman Frances Hix said: "Time has run out for the present system. We need a system that is simple to understand and attracts the best brains back to Brighton and Hove."

Among those who met Mr Norris was Roger French, who is spearheading the Yes campaign.