Councillors have rejected plans to hold a referendum on whether Brighton and Hove should have a directly-elected mayor.

The ruling Labour group had wanted Brighton and Hove Council to become one of the first authorities in the country to hold the referendum on May 3, the likely date of the next General Election.

But members of the three opposition parties joined with rebel Labour councillors to throw out the plans 36-30 with five abstentions after a debate lasting more than two hours.

Four Labour councillors - Kevin Allen, Francis Tonks, Steve Collier and Pat Murphy - voted with the opposition. Their political future is now uncertain.

The decision leaves the council in what leading members and officials have called "constitutional limbo".

Only the previous night, the policy committee had voted for the referendum, which would have led to an election for the mayor in October.

After the historic vote had been taken, Mayor Andy Durr adjourned the meeting for 20 minutes so councillors could work out what they had done. But Tories refused to join in the discussions.

When the meeting resumed, Labour council leader Lynette Gwyn-Jones said the issue would have to come back to the next meeting of the council on March 1.

She said: "This council has already taken some decisions about the referendum which have been agreed."

Both she and chief executive Glynn Jones said the authority had to sort out what its next move would be.

But opposition leader Geoffrey Theobald said: "A vote has been taken which means we have decided not to go ahead with this scheme for the next five or six months.

"If you try to take another vote on March 1 the result will be exactly the same as it was tonight."

Opponents to a system of directly-elected mayor and an all-powerful ruling cabinet have called for the system to be halted.