Jim Evans (Letters, June 5) completely misunderstands council rents and housing benefit.

Taxpayers do not subsidise council tenants. The revenue raised from council rents is raided by Government to subsidise housing benefit by £877 per tenant per year - council tenants are taxed at a higher rate than taxpayers.

The Government calls this "negative subsidy"- we call it daylight robbery and want it stopped.

Council housing was self-financing until Mrs Thatcher began

robbing it. And could be again if Blair didn't do the same.

-Ruth Arundell, Defend Council Housing, Brighton and Hove