Pensioners gathered outside the Labour Party conference to protest against rising council tax bills.

About 30 people waved banners and chanted on the seafront opposite the Brighton Centre yesterday.

Several voiced support for two pensioners jailed this month for refusing to pay their council tax.

John Arnold, 77, from Lewes, said: "We shouldn't have to pay the amount we have to pay. I would consider not paying my council tax and I have friends who plan to refuse to pay."

William Cobbett, 71, from Copthorne in West Sussex, said: "We have been protesting since 1997 and it was obvious then it was going to start rising at an unaffordable rate."

The protesters were lifted by support from passers-by.

Unemployed Timothy Lawson, 43, from Hove, said: "They have got a point. Council tax is quite prohibitive.

"Elderly people fought for this country but now they are being marginalised. Conference big suits are not interested in what happens to these people."

Earlier this month, a retired vicar was jailed for 28 days for refusing to pay what he called an "unfair" increase in tax.

The Reverend Alfred Ridley, 71, of Towcester, Northants, was sent to prison for ignoring a court order that he repay £691 in arrears to his local authority.

Council tax protester Sylvia Hardy, 73, from Exeter, Devon, was sent to Gloucestershire's Eastwood Park Prison on Monday after missing a deadline to settle arrears of £53.71.

She was released last night after an anonymous well-wisher paid her arrears. She had been sentenced to seven days in prison.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005