A vote of no confidence called after the leader of Barnet Borough Council was accused of turning the authority into a "laughing stock" was defeated.

Barnet Borough Council’s Labour group called the role of Conservative Councillor Richard Cornelius into question after a damning report concluded that nobody at the authority understood government law.

The report was commissioned after a series of blunders at a council meeting in June, which led to errors in its members’ allowances scheme and the way committee members were allocated.

Tonight’s extraordinary meeting was held at the end of the full council, in a departure from the convention that it is always held beforehand.

Cllr Cornelius voted in favour of himself, with his Tory colleagues also voting in support.

During the full council meeting, Councillor Richard Cornelius said he had taken on board the advice given by independent lawyer Claer Lloyd-Jones in her report.

The report also criticised Barnet and Harrow borough councils' joint legal team, as well as Barnet’s former monitoring officer, Maryellen Salter, an accountant who did not have the legal background usual for the job.

Cllr Cornelius said: “There was one substantive error which has now been fixed but amendments are still needed. We need to change on them and improve them.

“I’d like to stress I like the legal services as they are for routine matters. There’s no need to change it.”

Labour leader Cllr Alison Moore said: “This led to a meltdown in the chamber and a shameful mess. It’s not the shared legal services we thought we were getting, it isn’t fit for purpose. It begs the question, what else could go wrong?”

She added: “The events on June 7 made Barnet look like a laughing stock. It was no laughing matter and it’s not a trivial issue. Bringing the council into disrepute isn’t in our interests.”

Cllr Cornelius responded by saying: “We know we're going to have to make painful cuts in the next five years. Wake up, we have to make cuts. We have a £70m problem which was caused by Gordon Brown, we know that.

"Labour are struggling to make a mountain from this embarrassing molehill."