Second batch of Mandelson files won't be published this month

The second tranche of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US will not be published this month.

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said the papers would be released after Parliament's upcoming recess to give MPs "sufficient time to review the material".

Jones gave the update in the House of Commons after the committee of MPs reviewing the documents said some files were being withheld and redacted on new grounds.

Jones denied Conservative accusations of a cover-up and insisted the government had taken the "normal approach" to redacting files.

Lord Mandelson was sacked as ambassador last year after the emergence of new revelations about the extent of his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In February, MPs voted to force the government to publish all papers relating to the appointment through a parliamentary process called a humble address.

The government initially opposed the motion, arguing that it did not want to publish material that could damage national security or diplomatic relations.

But in a last-minute compromise, the government agreed to first send sensitive documents to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which would decide what could and could not be published.

The first tranche of documents was published in March.

In a statement last week, Lord Beamish - chairman of the ISC - said the committee had received 337 documents and had reached a decision on all the reductions requested by the government.

He said it was now for the government to publish the documents within 28 sitting days of Parliament.

But he raised a number of concerns, including additional redaction grounds and some documents being withheld.

ISC deputy chairman Sir Jeremy Wright raised the issue through an urgent question in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

He suggested if the government wanted to withhold or redact some of the information not relevant to national security or diplomatic relations, MPs should give their consent.

Sir Jeremy, a Conservative former minister, said ISC members had "sympathy with the substantive arguments the government may make for withholding information".

But he said MPs "cannot accept that the government is entitled to ignore or to unilaterally alter the terms of the humble address".

He said if the government thought the humble address was "too broad as drafted and needs to be refined", ministers must seek "consent for any alteration" from MPs.

Responding, Jones said he thought Sir Jeremy was asking him about "personal data collected as part of the security vetting process".

Jones said raw data - such as the balance of a bank account - "would never be published".

"If we did so, people would feel unable to answer those questions honestly and frankly," Jones said.

Jones said "targeted redactions" had been made "in line with clear precedent set by previous administrations in responding to humble addresses".

"I'm sure members across the House will recognise there is no public interest in the government publishing the names and contact details of junior officials or their telephone numbers," Jones said.

When asked whether the documents would be published before the parliamentary by-election in Makerfield, which is expected to be on 18 June, Jones said the government would "have to secure time in the House".

"I'm ready for this document to be published as soon as we're ready to do so and I've committed to do so after the recess," Jones said.

Parliament will go on recess at the end of this week and returns on Monday 1 June.

Lord Beamish told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme the government still needed to explain why certain information connected to the security vetting of Lord Mandelson could not be published.

He said the ISC agreed with the government that publishing details of the vetting process would "fundamentally cause problems for future vetting systems".

He added: "There's not a cover-up here, it's just being transparent."