Shadow Chancellor Michael Howard said in Brighton today poor people would be hit hard by a huge rise in council tax.

Tonight, Brighton and Hove City Council is set to approve a rise of 14.5 per cent in the levy from April.

Mr Howard, speaking to The Argus at the Old Ship Hotel in Brighton, said the rise would come on top of a big increase in National Insurance contributions.

Together they would mean an extra £12 a week for many people in the city to find.

Mr Howard added: "The trouble is that most people are not seeing very much in return for the taxes."

He said that although spending was rising on the NHS by 22 per cent, much of it was being swallowed in pay rather than in improvements in hospitals.

Mr Howard said the Government change in grants had hit councils in the south-east, such as Brighton and Hove, particularly hard.

Yet many people had little money and he said: "The Government is hitting them with these increases."

Tory opposition city council leader Brian Oxley told Mr Howard that Conservatives will condemn the Labour council's plans for big tax rises and cuts of £6 million.