A former Haringey cabinet member has suggested she was sacked by the council leader for opposing cuts to adult social care.

Cllr Peray Ahmet, who was removed from her post as cabinet member for adults and health on New Year’s Eve, said her opposition to funding cuts to adult’s services and to the closure of a nursing home could lie behind council leader Cllr Joseph Ejiofor’s decision.

In an email to Labour colleagues, which has been posted on public forum OpinioN8, Cllr Ahmet said she was given no prior warning of the sacking and no reason for the decision “except to say that it was important for ‘cabinet cohesion’”.

She said: “the only reason [for the sacking] I can perhaps presume is that I have opposed Joe on a number of occasions within the cabinet”.

Cllr Ahmet suggested one reason was her opposition to Cllr Ejiofor’s “push for the closure” of the council-owned Osborne Grove Nursing Home.

Osborne Grove was slated for closure in December 2017 after health inspectors rated it ‘inadequate’ – but in June last year councillors overturned the decision and pledged to keep it open.

Another reason cited by Cllr Ahmet is her opposition to “the push to find more cuts in Adults Social Care, including what we know as P201 (Top Up Policy) and P202 (Disability Disregard)”.

Some £2 million of savings have been earmarked for the adult services budget in the coming year as the council faces further cuts to funding from central government.

Cllr Ahmet said: “As I expressed to group at the time, it felt as if adult social care was the only policy area with no red lines and I attempted to have some money reinvested from children’s [services] into the ASC budget.

“I am concerned that some members are saying otherwise. I fought hard to get those cuts off the table and to ensure that Osborne Grove remains open to the families that are there.”

Commenting on the dismissals of Cllr Ahmet and Cllr Zena Brabazon, who was sacked as cabinet member for civic services on the same day, Cllr Ejiofor said he wanted to end “persistent personal conflicts” and create “a cabinet that works closer together to deliver our manifesto”.

But Cllr Ahmet said: “I do believe that policy decisions should be robustly challenged and not just accepted. That makes for better decision making.

“Unfortunately, this appears to be have been portrayed as a ‘lack of cohesion’.”

Cllr Brabazon has suggested leaked information over the council’s dealings with Tottenham Hotspur – published in a recent article for The Observer – was the reason for her dismissal.

She has “categorically” denied being the source of the leaks.