The leader of Enfield Council is facing calls to resign amid ongoing signs of infighting within the local Labour Party.

Members of Enfield Southgate Constituency Labour Party (CLP) have tabled a no-confidence motion against Councillor Nesil Caliskan following her decision to “suspend” one of her cabinet members for failing to back a report on a waste plan for north London.

The motion alleges the decision to “autocratically remove” Cllr Yasemin Brett as cabinet member for public health was made “on spurious grounds” and is “part of an ongoing culture of bullying”.

It also suggests the incident could have hurt Labour’s chances in the recent Bush Hill Park by-election, which was comfortably won by the Conservatives following a swing away from Labour.

Cllr Caliskan has issued a statement claiming the motion “repeats previous unfounded accusations” and suggesting it is linked to racism against the Turkish-speaking community.

The emergency motion, which was emailed to CLP members last week, claims Cllr Brett had a right to stand up for ward residents and express her animal welfare concerns when cabinet members discussed the North London Waste Plan (NLWP) on November 14.

Cllr Brett, who has long voiced opposition to the plans in her role as ‘animal and conservation champion’, declared a non-pecuniary interest in the NLWP and left the meeting while it was discussed.

The motion claims this kind of behaviour was allowed by previous council leaders.

It says Cllr Brett was removed “without first informing her, and without consultation with the cabinet, the Labour group, or the CLPs”.

The motion further alleges Cllr Brett had previously complained about bullying to the CLP chair.

It calls on the council leader to resign and for “the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of Cllr Yasemin Brett to the cabinet”.

Southgate CLP has previously called for an investigation into “irregularities” in the process to select Labour candidates to contest council elections in May.

Cllr Caliskan said a small number of members of Enfield Southgate CLP previously passed a motion referring to Turkish-speaking councillors as ‘functionally illiterate’.

The motion in fact stated that some applications from candidates suggested they were functionally illiterate but made no reference to Turkish-speaking councillors.

However, media reports later suggested the council had been “taken over” by a “clan” with links to the Turkish community.

Cllr Caliskan continued: “The vast majority of Labour members in Southgate do not agree with this and many of them have told me that they do not wish to be associated with the individuals who conduct the meetings and who continue to harass myself and members of the Turkish-speaking community.”

The council leader also defended her decision to remove Cllr Brett from the cabinet and repeated her pledge to re-instate her.

She said: “Cabinet operates on the basis of collective positions and confidence. I take the integrity of the cabinet structure of the council to be very important in order to effectively run the Labour administration.

“Cabinet members are not obliged to take up the position if they feel that they cannot sign up to collective responsibility for cabinet’s collective decisions.

“The position of ‘animal champion’ is not a position outlined in the constitution of the council, nor is it a position on the Labour Group and no election has been held for such a position.

“However, I do understand and respect that Cllr Brett takes her work as ‘animal champion’ very seriously and we all applaud her for her commitment to animals.”

The motion, which carries no official force, is due to be debated at a meting of the CLP on Thursday (November 29).