Does Brighton and Hove City Council's 4.9 per cent council tax rise include a figure for Queen's Park councillor and former Labour leader Ken Bodfish's councillors' allowance?

I hope not: His comments about "not talking about anything other than mental health" and his failure to turn up to the crucial council budget meeting make it crystal clear he's deserted his post and left Queen's Park residents with one less councillor to represent their needs and views.

Councillor Bodfish can't have it both ways either he wants to remain a city councillor, in which case he should turn up to meetings and be prepared to represent the views of the local people who voted for him (whether they are about mental health or anything else) or he doesn't, in which case he ought to resign and allow local people a by-election to choose someone to replace him.

And if he isn't prepared to talk about the issues facing Brighton's Queen's Park area, he certainly shouldn't be allowed to keep councillors' allowances paid for with local people's council tax.

-Ben Duncan, Brighton