Brighton and Hove City Council, run by a bunch of Tory spivs, is hard up and needs to raise money to fund its often dubious activities. In the last week, it is reported to have spent a five figure sum in engagaing a,"tough" barrister in their vendetta against Green Councillor Jason Kitkat. This barrister was paid from public funds and failed to achieve what they paid him for. Then there are the four, "super directors" recruited on salaries of over £150,000, plus. The Tories are in a cash crisis!

All this has to be paid for and, like their Tory counterparts in government, they fund their extravagance from screwing the poor, sick, elderly and disabled. One area they target is people on Housing and Council Tax Benefits. On any visit to the council offices you find a succession of people there querying council demands for overpayments of Housing and Council Tax Benefits. Councils are allowed to keep monies they recover from people in this way. For cash strapped Brighton and Hove Tories, it plugs a hole in their finances.

Most of these demands are of dubious legality. Most decent councils in these circumstances would recover any lawful overpayments from landlords, or write them off. Brighton and Hove however, take a vicious delight in pursuing the poor, sick and disabled for monies they demand, often unlawfully.

It is a frequent sight to see distraught people in the council offices, there are people who struggle to make ends meet, let alone pay unalwful demands of Brighton and Hove spivs.

The regulations provide that people who have health problems, disabilities, suffer with hardship, should have overpayments written off. Councils have the ability to use their discretion. The regulations provide for this, it is not a question of councils having to find excuses to stop this action.

There are ways of challenging the council's decisions but Brighton and Hove spivs do their level best to subvert these. It does not comply with statutory procedures, instead choosing to act like a bunch of cowboys from the Wild West. You can hear their spurs jangling all the way down the street!

There is a right of appeal but any attempt to get the council to comply with this will meet strong resistance from them. They resort to all manner of dirty tricks to prevent people from submitting an appeal so as to obtain an independent hearing. These include the council committing criminal acts as deception, misconduct in public office, and more. They excel in an abuse of process which hurts the poorest in the city. There are no depths to which the council will not stoop in order to force people into paying. The law provides that if someone asks for a review, or submits an appeal, then the council cannot seek recovery. Brighton and Hove choose to ignore this and try to make people pay irrespective of whether it is legally due.

Brighton and Hove City Council is so desperate for cash, well all those Tories must be able to spend on their chums and expenses after all, they create this source of revenue to plug the gaps with glee.

They are beneath contempt and the lowest of the low life scum. Well they are Tories after all.

Should you have the misfortune to receive demands from them, challenge these in every way!