Housing Secretary Steve Reed has been grilled by GB News hosts Alex Armstrong and Ellie Costello after Sir Keir Starmer avoided a sleaze probe into his handling of the Lord Peter Mandelson scandal.
Speaking to the People's Channel, Mr Reed assured that it has been "one of the most open and transparent processes I can ever remember in Government".
Mr Reed told Alex and Ellie: "Because of the humble address, it means that tens of thousands of documents are being scrutinised by the Intelligence and Security Committee in order to be released into the public domain.
"We've got the Foreign Affairs Select Committee under Emily Thornberry, which is conducting a hearing, the former Permanent Secretary Philip Barton was there yesterday, and Morgan McSweeney, the former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister. It couldn't be more open."
Mr Reed argued that "99 per cent" of Labour MPs backed Sir Keir as they want to "get on and focus on the issues that matter most to voters".
He told GB News: "There's things like improving the rights for people that rent their own home, new rights coming into force on Friday that will end unfair evictions, that's the kind of thing the country cares about the most.
"There's transparency on the issue about Peter Mandelson, as there should be, but when I knock on doors, voters tell me they want us to do things about the cost of living, housing and the difficulty that people are having making ends meet at the moment."
Pushing back on Mr Reed's argument, Ellie questioned why there needed to be a three-line whip on the vote if "99 per cent of MPs were backing the Prime Minister".
Steve Reed has been grilled by GB News host Ellie Costello after MPs blocked a sleaze probe into Keir Starmer
|GB NEWS
Mr Reed argued: "Well, it's perfectly normal for votes in Parliament to be whipped. Pretty much every vote is whipped."
Ellie interjected, stating: "Not on matters such as whether Parliament has been told the truth. That isn't usual.
"The Tories didn't do it, and even in the papers today, Labour MPs are saying even the Tories didn't pull a stunt like this to bail out Boris Johnson, they had a free vote?"
Mr Reed responded: "But the Tories aren't being serious. There's not a shred of evidence to back up what they're saying. Kemi Badenoch has changed her line of attack every single day because none of it actually stacks up.
"What they're really trying to do is cause a huge distraction ahead of the general election, because they would rather I came onto your show and other shows like it to talk about Peter Mandelson, rather than what we're doing to build more council homes, cut people's energy bills and put more money in people's pockets."
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MPs voted to block an investigation into Keir Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal | PARLIAMENT TVMr Reed made clear that the Labour Government will "not be distracted" by such moves by the Tories.
He told GB News: "We showed we're foursquare behind the Prime Minister last night, and transparency there must be over this issue, that's only right and proper. But I want to focus on what we can do to help families that are struggling right now."
Pushing back on the Labour MP, host Alex Armstrong argued that the "public want answers" to the "massive distraction" that is the Peter Mandelson scandal.
Mr Reed hit back: "There's a tiny handful of people that took a different view from 99 per cent of the of the rest of us. Can you remember a time when over tens of thousands of documents were made available so that we could show exactly what had gone on? There's barely been anything that's had more scrutiny on it.
Mr Reed told GB News that Labour will 'not be distracted' by Tory 'stunts'
|GB NEWS
"But what the Tories were doing yesterday was trying to call a vote on something for which they have not been able to demonstrate a shred of evidence. If they were serious, they would have waited until those further documents came out to see if there was anything in there."
He added: "But no, they pulled this stunt ahead of the local elections because it was a party political trap, that's all. They're not interested in finding the truth. They're interested in pulling stunts.
"We are being transparent, that's why the documents are being released. That's why the Foreign Affairs Select Committee is conducting those hearings."
Reiterating that voters "want to know what we're doing to make their lives better", Mr Reed concluded: "I've knocked on hundreds of doors over recent weeks in the run up to the election, and I'm afraid the Mandelson issue hasn't come up.
"People ask me, what are you doing about housing? What are you doing about the potholes? What are you doing about the economy, and that is what they expect us to talk to them about, I'm afraid."