 He resigned as a Minister on 6 November 2019, after evidence emerged that he had known about a former aide's role in the "sabotage" of a rape trial, whom he later endorsed as a candidate for the Welsh Assembly.A Cabinet Office inquiry found that there was no evidence of his having breached the ministerial code; the rape victim, who had worked for Cairns alongside England, later claimed that the inquiry was "a sham".Cairns believes the best route out of poverty is through employment.