A Labour councillor has been rebuked for wrongfully accusing three people of racism.

Councillor Pauline Gibson was censured for her behaviour by Haringey Borough Council’s standards committee on January 22.

The Noel Park ward councillor was found to have subjected the complainants to “unfair, unreasonable and demeaning” treatment by making accusations of racism and discrimination against them in emails.

Committee members concluded that neither the content of her accusation nor the choice of audience for them could be reasonably justified.

They determined claims about the conduct of the three people could not be sustained, despite Cllr Gibson's belief to the contrary.

The committee also said Cllr Gibson was reckless about the accuracy of some of the allegations that she made about the complainants.

As well as being rebuked for her conduct, the committee also referred the matter to the Labour Group chief whip with a recommendation that he review Cllr Gibson’s council appointments.

The Liberal Democrat opposition has called on Cllr Gibson to apologise.

Cllr Richard Wilson, leader of the opposition, said: “It is a great shame that a Labour councillor has failed to meet the standards expected of elected politicians in this borough.

“The committee that checks councillors are behaving appropriately found that Cllr Gibson brought her office into disrepute by widely spreading unfounded accusations of racism.

“Residents rightly expect their local councillors to treat people with respect and to behave properly. It is very disappointing that didn’t happen in this case.”

Haringey Labour Group said it could not comment at this time as its chief whip Cllr Pat Egan has not yet had a meeting with the council’s monitoring officer to discuss this issue.