A Brent councillor has called for an investigation into his council leader’s behaviour after receiving an “unacceptable” response to his queries about the upcoming budget.

Liberal Democrat councillor Anton Georgiou, who represents Alperton ward, wrote to Brent Council chief executive Carolyn Downs urging her to review the exchange he had with Cllr Muhammed Butt over the council’s finances.

He argued the response he received could be seen to have broken the councillors’ code of conduct in relation to their ‘general obligations’ and could lead to a formal investigation by the monitoring officer.

Cllr Georgiou had initially written to Cllr Butt asking him to object to the proposed 4.99 per cent council tax hike for 2021/22 and questioning what efforts had been made to tackle the financial burden on residents.

In his response, Cllr Butt pointed out the constraints imposed on local government by Whitehall and the “difficult choices” the administration must face when it comes to setting the budget.

He also accused Cllr Georgiou of attending “the bare minimum of council meetings” and failing to “grasp some of the basics” of how the council is run.

He then invited Cllr Georgiou to attend and speak at the upcoming cabinet meeting on Monday (February 8) where the draft budget is up for approval.

Cllr Georgiou has previously called for more opportunities to formally contribute at council meetings, asking for a position on one of the committees – ideally scrutiny – despite the legal challenges he faces as the sole representative of a party.

Cllr Butt also suggested his colleague is “in all likelihood” set to remain in his position for no longer than just over a year, given all councillors will be up for re-election in May 2022.

He described Cllr Georgiou’s approach as “worthless political posturing” and repeated his call for him to attend council meetings on behalf of his constituents.

Cllr Georgiou said he was “stunned” by Cllr Butt’s comments and felt he had “no choice” than to take the matter further.

“I want to be clear, I will not allow the leader to stop me from what I was elected to do by residents in Alperton,” he said.

“I will continue to hold him and his administration to account and be a voice for Brent residents, who for many years have felt unrepresented and ignored.”