Downing Street has issued a rebuke to Kensington and Chelsea council after a meeting to discuss the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy was cut short because of the presence of reporters.
A Number 10 spokeswoman said that Prime Minister Theresa May's view was that the council should have "respected" a High Court ruling that the press and public should be allowed into the meeting, which was originally slated to be held behind closed doors.
The row increases pressure on council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown, following reports that cladding used during a multimillion-pound refurbishment of the 24-storey high-rise was switched to a cheaper version.
Both The Times and the BBC said they had seen official documents which stated aluminium panels were preferred to the non-combustible zinc alternative.
Mr Paget-Brown apologised on Thursday for the authority's response to the tragedy, in which at least 80 people died.
But he then called the meeting to an abrupt close, saying that he had received legal advice that the presence of journalists would "prejudice" the inquiry into the tragedy being led by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
Asked for Mrs May's response to the shutdown of the meeting, the Number 10 spokeswoman said: "Our view is that access to democracy should always be easy and we think that is vital if people want to retain confidence in our democratic system.
"I can't speak for the council, but there are rules that state that all meetings must be open to the public except in certain circumstances.
"In this specific case, the High Court ruled that the meeting should be open, and we would have expected the council to respect that."
Asked whether the PM retained confidence in the political leadership of the Conservative-run council, the spokeswoman said: "We are working very closely with Kensington and Chelsea throughout the ongoing recovery process. The view I've given you about the meeting is the Prime Minister's view on that issue."
Downing Street revealed that 149 cladding samples from high-rise buildings in 45 local authority areas have now failed fire safety tests - a 100% failure rate.
Built in 1974, Grenfell Tower in west London was recently refurbished at a cost of £8.6 million, with work completed in May last year.
Reports by The Times and BBC suggested that a saving of nearly £300,000 had been made by opting for "downgraded" cladding.
The Times has claimed to have seen emails which it said suggest cladding at the 24-storey building was downgraded to save money.
Paperwork showed the consultants for the refurbishment of the tower block were placed under pressure to keep costs low, the paper said.
The BBC also said another key reason for the switch was to save money.
Meanwhile, an independent panel set up to advise on immediate safety improvements suggested that cladding which has failed safety tests may not have to be stripped from buildings in all cases.
The Independent Expert Advisory Panel chaired by the Government's former Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Sir Ken Knight met for the first time on Thursday and issued its first advice on Friday.
It said that in any cases where panels fail combustibility tests, landlords should follow interim safety measures issued last week, which involve thorough checks on fire precautions throughout buildings but do not require the immediate removal of cladding.
And the advice added: "The Panel will engage with experts across the country to consider whether these panels can be used safely as part of a wider building external wall system, and therefore could remain on a building under certain approved circumstances.
"If, in the meantime, a landlord chooses to take down and replace cladding, care should be taken to consider the impact that removal may have on the other wall elements, especially insulation, and therefore on the overall fire integrity of the building as well as other Building Regulation requirements.
The developments came as:
:: The Red Cross said £3.2 million has been raised following the fire and said there were enough "excess donations" to cover three football pitches, which will be distributed to charity shops across the country.
:: Lord Porter of Spalding, the chairman of the Local Government Association, said the Government needed to canvass the opinion of a greater number of experts amid allegations its safety testing is flawed.
:: Anh Nhu Nguyen, 52, was due before magistrates charged with five counts of fraud over allegations he falsely claimed to have lost family members in the fire.
:: Latest figures from NHS England show that four people remain in hospital, of whom one is in critical care.
Tensions over the aftermath of the Grenfell fire surfaced at Thursday night's council cabinet meeting, which was aborted by Mr Paget-Brown amid a cacophony of dissent.
As part of his update before the meeting was stopped, Mr Paget-Brown said: "I realise the council has come in for much criticism for its response. I will acknowledge this and apologise for what we could have done better."
Labour councillor Robert Atkinson, whose ward includes Grenfell Tower, laid into the authority's leader, yelling: "An absolute fiasco, this is why I am calling for your resignation."
Mr Paget-Brown had earlier dismissed the pressure on him to stand down.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said residents have "no confidence in the local council" and "feel let down" by central Government.
He told the Press Association: "The lack of confidence in the local authority has not been restored since the fire.
"The idea that the first discussion from the council, that the meeting should be behind closed doors and then is abandoned because of a court order, beggars belief."
Mr Khan said the council leadership should be asking how the authority can restore confidence "and that means taking a good hard look at themselves and whether they are fit for purpose".
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey called for the resignation of Kensington and Chelsea's cabinet member for housing, Rock Feilding-Mellen.
"Cllr Rock Feilding-Mellen's refusal to be held accountable for serious failures made on his watch is astounding," said Sir Ed. "He should take responsibility and stand down immediately.
"These suggestions that plans to use fireproof zinc cladding were scrapped in favour of a cheaper aluminium cladding to drive down costs are real cause for concern. This needs to be investigated fully at the public inquiry with no stone left unturned."
Lord Porter was critical of the tests being done on the cladding.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I think we can't be certain that what we know now is any better than what we knew two weeks ago.
"The Government needs to listen to a wider set of opinions and not just the experts they have got.
"The experts, they may well be right, but we can't have confidence in that because every single one has failed across the whole country.
"The tests are not testing the fire safety of the panels, they are testing what the core of the panel is made from. That's not what the test needs to be."
Housing charity Shelter raised concerns over the "narrow" scope of the inquiry envisaged by Sir Martin, who said on Thursday it would be "pretty well limited to the problems surrounding the start of the fire and its rapid development".
Shelter's interim chief executive Graeme Brown said: "This is a unique opportunity to look at what happened not just on the day of the fire, but in the lead-up to it: which safety standards were adhered to and why? Why were tenants concerns about their safety apparently not listened to and acted upon?
"In our view it is important that Grenfell residents - many of whom we are talking to through our advice clinics - are consulted in a meaningful way. Many of them have openly criticised the authorities for failing to heed their safety warnings before the fire.
"This is important evidence and those running the inquiry need to listen and to hear these voices. Only by properly including those affected can we get to the bottom of this tragedy and ensure nothing similar ever happens again."