Cairns’ Heseltine ‘expertise’ letter due to ‘clerical error’

A LETTER sent by the Welsh Secretary on Tuesday expressing his delight that sacked government adviser Lord Heseltine had offered his “expertise” to ministers and officials was the result of a “clerical error”, Downing Street said.

Alun Cairns wrote to all Welsh MPs to inform them he has been “working hard” to get the best possible city deal for Swansea Bay and that there had been a “great deal of progress”.

The Welsh Secretary went on: “We have a good plan for the region, but we now need to make it a great plan.

“I’m therefore delighted that Lord Heseltine has offered to support the final stages of the deal.”

Tory grandee Lord Heseltine was sacked as a government adviser last week after rebelling in the House of Lords over Brexit.

After learning of his fate, he told the Press Association he was “sorry that the expertise I have put at the government’s disposal over the last six years has now come to an end”.

In his letter on the Swansea city deal, received by Welsh MPs on Wednesday, Mr Cairns said: “I am confident that with a small amount of work, and the expertise of Lord Heseltine, we will soon be in a position to make an agreement on the deal.”

Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesman said the references to Lord Heseltine in the letter were the result of “a simple clerical error”.