A Labour councillor with “no shame” has been told to resign by the Tories after he was convicted of a criminal offence.

Former Labour councillor Nesimi Erbil, who is now an independent member of Enfield council, was convicted of two fraud offences in relation to his licence to drive a black cab.

Tory councillors feel this has made his position as a councillor untenable in the context of the code of conduct and tabled a motion calling for his resignation.

Speaking at a meeting of the full council, opposition leader Cllr Terence Neville pushed Mr Erbil to go.

He said: “If you look at the council code of conduct, at the moment there is no place for councillor Erbil here.

“This man has no remorse, no shame. How can you say, having been convicted of fraud that he should remain?

“A convicted criminal is sitting in our midst and is drawing £10,000 a year from the public purse. It is a nonsense and a farce.

“He was sitting on the licensing sub-committee after his conviction, making decisions on other people’s livelihoods having been convicted of fraud in relation to his own.

“The only proper answer is for the council to vote en masse so that councillor Erbil gets the message pretty sharply.

“I would urge those on the other side of this chamber thinking of abstaining to remember the code of conduct and their responsibility to it.”

The controlling Labour administration abstained from a vote on the motion urging Mr Erbil to resign on the basis that it would interfere with an ongoing disciplinary procedure by the central Labour Party involving him.

Labour group whip and member for Southgate Green Claire Stewart outlined the party’s position on the matter.

She said: “Immediately upon notification of this matter we informed the national party and Cllr Erbil was immediately suspended.

“This is a Labour Party disciplinary matter and our party has taken internal measures.

“The party has instructed that any comment may predetermine his disciplinary and as such we will be abstaining.”

An Enfield Council spokesman said: “No action has been taken by Enfield Council against Cllr Erbil as none was required under the authority’s constitution because he was sentenced to less than three months imprisonment and was therefore was not disqualified from being a councillor.”

Mr Erbil was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in September last year and sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, fined £580 and given eight penalty points.

The matter did not immediately come to light as his name was misspelled as Nesimi Ebil on a police newsletter called Cab Enforcement News.

Councillor Erbil has been approached for comment.