THE SNP will present a Bill Tuesday to strip Peter Mandelson and other friends of sex offenders of their peerages.

It comes as Lord Mandelson declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for remaining friends with the convicted financier. 

The former ambassador to the US said he had paid a “calamitous” price for being sacked over his association with “evil monster” Epstein. 

He apologised for a system that failed Epstein’s victims, but not for his continued support after Epstein’s first conviction.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and a minor, but Lord Mandelson said he believed his excuses. 

He described it as “misplaced loyalty” and “a most terrible mistake on my part,” insisting he was “at the edge of this man’s life.” 

Emails, however, revealed the friendship persisted after the conviction. 

In his first broadcast interview since leaving Washington, he told BBC One: “I never saw anything… that would give me any reason to suspect what this evil monster was doing.

“I think the issue is that because I was a gay man in his circle, I was kept separate from what he was doing in the sexual side of his life.”

Asked about apologising, he said: “I want to apologise to those women for a system that refused to hear their voices.

“If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise… but I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable for what he was doing.”

Emails showed he encouraged Epstein to “fight for early release” before his 18-month sentence and told him, “I think the world of you” the day before.

The SNP’s “Removal of Peerages Bill” would strip Lord Mandelson of his titles and rights in the House of Lords and allow similar action against Matthew Doyle, amid revelations of his links to convicted sex offender Sean Morton.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “This sordid story has gone on long enough.

“Friends of paedophiles should not be in the Lords and that should be an open-and-shut case for any reasonable person.”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called Lord Mandelson’s interview “deep naivety” and said it would have helped victims if he had apologised.