The Archbishop of York has responded to calls for his resignation following the recent Justin Welby scandal.

As The Press reported, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned following outrage in response to the Makin review.

The review found that barrister John Smyth, who is thought to have been the most prolific abuser associated with the Church of England, might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally alerted authorities in 2013.

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell has also faced calls to resign over the handling of separate abuse cases, with former members of the church’s now disbanded Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) - including Dame Jasvinder Sanghera - claiming he had failed to act over safeguarding concerns.

But Mr Cottrell rejected this and told the Guardian he would not be resigning.

He said he had passed cases to “other appropriate safeguarding professionals” and insisted he had not “ignored” them.

He told the newspaper: “I’m not going to resign. Like everyone who serves the church, I’m subject to the discipline and authority of the church. If people read the (Independent Safeguarding Board report), they can make their own conclusions.”

The Archbishop of York's office told The Press: "The Archbishop of York is deeply committed to safeguarding and he commends Dame Jasvinder's personal work in this important area.

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"The decision to disband the ISB was taken collectively by the Archbishops’ Council. As was said publicly at the time the Archbishop, along with his fellow members of the Council, deeply regret the impact on victims and survivors.

"Following the disbandment an independent interim commissioner was appointed to ensure work to examine the 12 cases being looked at by the ISB continued. 

"An independent barrister led review into the decision to disband the ISB made no criticisms of individuals and concluded that both flaws in the design and governance of the ISB, and the breakdown in relations, had made the situation inevitable.

"Archbishop Stephen believes the future of Church safeguarding needs independent structures and scrutiny, while ensuring that it also remains everyone's responsibility, as highlighted in the recent Makin review.

"The church is in the process of developing a model of independent safeguarding. This is progressing both swiftly and carefully, with the intention of bringing proposals to General Synod in February."

Mr Cottrell also told the Guardian newspaper that he is unlikely to run for the newly open role of Archbishop of Canterbury.

"We need someone who can give at least five years, probably more like 10. So I don’t consider myself to be a candidate," he said.

"That doesn’t change my commitment over the coming years and I realise that for this next period I am the person that people will look to."