A Tory councillor has denied an accusation by the leader of Enfield Council that he engaged in hate speech in a social media post.

Cllr Chris Dey, who represents Grange ward, claimed there was “nothing racist” in a video about low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in which he branded the council administration “undemocratic” and called for leader Cllr Nesil Caliskan to be “removed”.

But Cllr Caliskan called Cllr Dey’s remarks “divisive and dangerous”, claiming they “perpetuate a racist trope that British politicians of an ethnic minority background are somehow dictators”.

The row broke out after Cllr Dey posted a video about LTNs on Twitter on February 7. Tory councillors have called for the schemes to be removed, claiming they cause delays and increased pollution in surrounding roads.

READ MORE: Traffic-reduction schemes to stay despite claims of major problems

In the video, Cllr Dey called for the council leader to be removed from office. His tweet claimed the council was “behaving more like a dictatorship than a democratically elected administration”.

Cllr Caliskan posted a link to the tweet saying: “This is hate speech. It’s dog-whistle politics and undermines decent political debate.” She claimed Conservative councillors had repeatedly labelled the council a “regime”, which she called “insults with Islamophobic undertones”.

The leader added that she had reported the incident to the police.

The Metropolitan Police said officers had spoken to Cllr Caliskan and determined that no offence occurred.

Cllr Caliskan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service Cllr Dey was “too irresponsible to be trusted in local politics”, pointing out he did not refer to democratic elections in the video. She branded his rhetoric “divisive and dangerous”.

The leader added: “There are democratic means for Cllr Dey to represent his residents in Grange that don’t include posting disturbing videos on social media that whip up hate.

“Perhaps Cllr Dey could do the decent thing and apologise before getting on with representing his residents in a civilised way.”

Cllr Dey denied the words he used were racist or hate speech. “I think it is fairly sad that the leader has used that to deflect from the argument, but she is entitled to her view,” he added.

The Tory councillor claimed hundreds of residents had not had their questions on LTNs answered by the administration, saying this was “undemocratic”. He said that when he called for the leader to be removed, he had meant “at the next election” or by an internal change of leadership within the Labour Group, adding that he had not used the word “regime”.

“A significant majority (of residents) are absolutely opposed to LTNs,” Cllr Dey said. “They must only remain if the majority are in favour. The leader really needs to start listening to the taxpayers who ultimately pay her wages.”

Conservative leader Cllr Joanne Laban said the opposition from residents to LTNs was “overwhelming” and claimed Cllr Caliskan was “seeking to divert the attention of the public from the failures of her own administration by making her own ill-founded allegations”.

Cllr Laban added: “The Conservative Party does not tolerate racist, bullying or any other inappropriate behaviours, and the disciplinary action taken by us when this is discovered speaks for itself.”

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “On Monday, February 8, we received a report alleging malicious communications in relation to a social media post.

“Officers reviewed the facts of the allegation and spoke with the complainant. They determined that no criminal offence had occurred.”