TORY Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns faced calls to resign yesterday after being accused of lying about his knowledge of an allegation that a Conservative candidate had sabotaged a rape trial.

Mr Cairns claims he had been unaware of former staff member Ross England’s role in the collapsed trial until after the story broke last week.

A leaked email sent to Mr Cairns by his special adviser Geraint Evans showed he had been made aware of the allegations as early as August last year.

The email said: “I have spoken to Ross and he is confident no action will be taken by the court.”

Four months later, Mr England was selected as the Welsh Conservatives’ candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan for the 2021 Welsh Assembly election.

Shadow Welsh secretary Christina Rees accused Mr Cairns of “brazenly lying” about his knowledge of the allegation and called on him to resign.

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts also called for Mr Cairns to resign as Welsh secretary and withdraw as a general election candidate after accusing him of a cover-up.

Ms Saville Roberts said: “At worst, Mr Cairns is complicit in the attempted cover-up of his former staff member’s actions which collapsed a rape trial.

“At best, he has displayed gross incompetence in judgment, dishonesty and a lack of leadership.”

The allegation relates to the April 2018 trial of Mr England’s friend James Hackett, who was later found guilty of rape after proceedings were restarted.