Councillors clashed over pay packets and debt levels during a debate on Enfield Council’s budget.

Tempers flared as members of opposition group Community First called for a £36,000-a-year increase in councillor allowances and a £46,000-a-year cabinet support officer role to be scrapped.

The budget for the coming financial year, which includes a 1.99 increase in core council tax and a 3 per cent rise in a levy used to fund adult social care, was approved by the Labour administration during a full council meeting on Tuesday.

Coming on top of a 9.5 per cent hike in the share of council tax raised by the Greater London Authority, it will push band D bills up by almost £100 over the coming financial year.

Cabinet member for finance Cllr Mary Maguire (Labour, Palmers Green) said the budget was designed to look after the most vulnerable in the borough – and would have been in surplus if the council had not faced extra Covid-19 costs that were not covered by the Government.

The budget includes plans to invest £560,000 in adults' and children’s services, including £260,000 for extra social workers.

Cllr Maguire told the meeting: “We are investing in our borough, have ambitions plans for our borough and have a budget that puts Enfield first.”

But Cllr Dino Lemonides (Community First, Chase) called the extra money being spent on councillor allowances and a new support officer “a slap in the face to the hard-working, honest people who need our support”.

The increase in the number of posts eligible for special responsibility allowances – pay for duties over and above ward councillor roles – followed the creation of new committees.

READ MORE: Councillor pay hikes slammed by opposition – including ex-Labour members

Cllr Lemonides added: “Why are we paying a support officer a starting salary more than a nurse, teacher, or policeman or woman would earn when they embark on their career? What possible skills can this person bring to the council?"

Cllr Nesil Caliskan (Labour, Jubilee) hit back, describing the Community First amendments as “a distraction – from a collection of misfit councillors who are exposing themselves to be pretty right-wing”.

“Unless we want councillors to only be those who are retired and those who are very wealthy, it is utterly ridiculous to suggest councillors should not receive an allowance – including a special responsibility allowance,” she added.

The leader claimed the proposal to delete the support officer role was “outrageous” and would go against trade union principles.

The Conservatives and Community First also took aim at council debt levels and warned over rising borrowing costs.

Tory leader Cllr Joanne Laban (Conservative, Highlands) accused the Labour administration of wasting money and “raiding the pockets of hardworking people at a time when they are struggling”.

She claimed the council had spent “over £200,000 drafting two strategies last year” and would have had more money if it had hit its recycling target.

“The Labour administration would not be paying as much as £8 million from this budget if it had not got itself into so much debt with nothing to show for it,” the Tory leader added.

But Cllr Caliskan claimed the investment and borrowing would make Enfield a “fantastic borough” and “improve the great Enfield we already have”.

The council leader said: “Our budget is a clear message to our residents in Enfield that this Labour council will be there for them, making sure our key services are delivered and that we are investing in the borough, so that the Enfield we know is a good place to grow up in, to grow old in and to live and work in.”

Labour councillors voted against the Community First amendments, which were supported by both opposition groups.

At the end of a long debate, Community First and the Tories voted against the budget, but it was passed when members of the majority Labour group voted in favour.