Barnet LBC should not be allowed to oversee the European Union (EU) referendum after the ‘chaos' of their running of the local elections, the London Assembly has said.

The assembly today agreed a motion calling on the Electoral Commission and London Elects to take over the running of Barnet's election administration.

It said it had ‘no confidence that Barnet could run a whelk stall' let alone organise a referendum.

The council sent out the wrong electoral lists to polling stations, an error that left some people unable to vote in last week's local elections.

Assembly members also requested an urgent review of the state of the council's electoral register, which the motion described as ‘worryingly deficient' and proposed Camden LBC should manage the EU vote in Barnet.

Andrew Dismore AM, who proposed the motion, said: ‘The chaos caused by Barnet LBC's inability to properly administer the London elections throws serious doubt on their ability to oversee the referendum.

‘Until we can be sure Barnet has fully understood and rectified the problems that led to last week's meltdown, the Electoral Commission should step in to ensure the smooth running of the EU referendum in June.'

It was announced this week that Barnet chief executive Andrew Travers would leave the council ‘by mutual agreement' following the problems.