Starmer 'was failed' and right to be furious over Mandelson, says minister

A Labour Welsh government minister has backed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as he prepares to face MPs over Peter Mandelson.

Ken Skates said Starmer "was failed" and "is right to be furious" for not being told that Mandelson did not pass a vetting check by officials when he was appointed as US Ambassador.

Skates, the Transport Secretary, told BBC Politics Wales that "obviously Starmer would never have appointed Mandelson had he been aware of this".

Opposition parties have called on the prime minister to resign, accusing him of misleading Parliament over his previous statements that due process had been followed in relation to the appointment.

Starmer will address MPs in the House of Commons on Monday after it emerged last week that Mandelson was appointed despite security concerns, and Downing Street saying red flags found in the vetting process were not raised with them.

Skates said: "The prime minister is right to be furious that this wasn't raised with him.

"I've gone through the process of appointing people as a minister, and you trust and rely on the vetting process to highlight any concerns that may arise and obviously the prime minister was failed on this front and he's right to be furious."

The scandal in Westminster comes as Wales is less than three weeks away from a Senedd election where the question of who "stands up for Wales" has been a key campaign issue.

Questioned on the danger of seeming to align with an unpopular prime minister under pressure, Skates said Starmer was right to "stand up" to Donald Trump over the war in Iran.

Skates added: "People are recognising the prime minister was right to stand up to [Trump], right that we shouldn't have gone into the war in Iran. And people recognise that stability and security are of the utmost importance."

James Evans of Reform UK told Politics Wales: "I know Ken has tried his best to deflect away there and blame Donald Trump, but I'm afraid to say what people are telling me is they want to change. They want the prime minister gone and they want to change here in Wales."

Philip Davies from the Welsh Green Party said: "This little club in Labour that are just interested in their own selves, not interested in the wider public and how to make people's lives better. And that's what we're focusing on."

Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP, said: "It beggars belief that Labour in Wales are offering their full support to a prime minister who has demonstrated a complete lack of judgement."

Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: "The British public have a right to be furious. Sir Keir Starmer has lost control of his own vetting process. He should never have appointed Lord Mandelson in the first place."

The Liberal Democrats have been approached for comment.

Also speaking on the programme, Evans added to confusion over whether or not Reform UK would publish its manifesto costings.

On a visit to Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday, Nigel Farage and the party's Welsh leader, Dan Thomas said they would publish their costings if other parties did the same, only for party officials to clarify that they would publish their costings regardless but urged other parties to do the same.

On Sunday, Evans reverted to the position taken by his political colleagues, leaving it unclear whether or not the party would make public how it intends to pay for its manifesto promises.

He said: "We've been very clear. We'll release our costings if Ken [Skates] will release his and other parties release theirs, we'll release ours."

Asked to clarify whether or not it was conditional, Evans said it was.

The Welsh Greens rejected the invitation to publish theirs, saying it's a "bit of a fantasy". Davies added "it gets a bit stupid" to be held to account on figures that are "outside our control".

"You don't know what it's cost and you also don't know how much benefits from other areas you can bring back into the economy."

Challenged by Evans on whether the Greens' Rent Freeze policy could lead to young people being unable to get on the housing ladder, Davies said: "We've seen it work in Scotland. We used to have rent control in the UK, it wasn't controversial. We had them from 1915 all the way up to Margaret Thatcher.

"This idea that this is a big radical thing. It isn't. It's just such simple policy that will improve people's lives in Wales and mean [young people] can actually stay here."

Representatives from Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives appeared on Politics Wales last week.