One can only imagine the loaded questions put by local consultant Maggie Peake during her recent "research" into residents' reaction to council tax rises - "two-thirds of those questioned were prepared to pay 15 per cent extra" (The Argus, February 24).

Will Brighton and Hove City Council be publishing the verbatim questions and answers, the number of people surveyed and a statement of exactly where the survey was carried out?

I am confident were I to conduct my own survey the findings would be diametrically opposed.

It is bad enough being faced with such a huge rise (well above inflation for the sixth year running) in the first place.

To be expected to swallow the results of this purported survey as being in any way representative adds insult to injury. The council must think we are all truly gullible. Perhaps we are.

-G I Stoner, Sunninghill Avenue, Hove