COUNCIL leader Warren Morgan believes it can be third time lucky for Brighton and Hove City Council agreeing a budget at the first attempt this time around.

Brighton and Hove City Council has had to try again twice in the past two years after reaching budget stalemate.

The council heads into this budget process in a similar situation with a minority administration requiring the support of opposition councillors to vote through a budget.

But Cllr Morgan said he believed his administration could set a budget first time because there were no practical council tax alternatives for opposition parties to pursue.

The council’s 54 elected members will vote on the 2016/17 budget proposals for £25 million of cuts on Thursday, February 25.

The authority must set a legal budget by March 11 with the prospect of Whitehall bureaucrats coming to the city to impose their own cuts if councillors fail to agree.

In recent days the proposed 2016/17 budget from the Labour administration has come under fire from both Conservatives, who have labelled its revamp of services “too timid”, and Greens who have labelled cuts to children’s centres and youth services “profoundly unfair”.

In July, the council agreed to a four-year budget process which limits council tax rises to 1.99 per cent or a freeze.

In last week's autumn statement, Chancellor George Osborne granted councils the ability to raise council tax by an additional two per cent from next year, ringfenced to be spent on adult social care.

Cllr Morgan said: “It will be immensely difficult faced with another £25 million worth of cuts for the Conservatives to identify an additional £2 million worth of cuts to set a freeze budget.

“It’s a tough task for them at a time when Conservative councils around the country, who had previously frozen council tax, are now increasing council tax by the same as us, to practically do it or politically justify it.

Cllr Morgan said the Greens would have to raise council tax by 25 per cent to offset the cuts.

“The Greens no doubt will come forward with the same proposals as in previous years," he said.