Sir Ed Davey boasted concerning the ‘integrity’ of the Post Office’s

Sir Ed Davey boasted concerning the ‘integrity’ of the put up workplace’s flawed Horizon pc system even after the campaigner Alan Bates had alerted him to catastrophic failings within the system.

The Liberal Democrat chief defended the controversial IT system, which is on the coronary heart of Britain’s largest ever miscarriage of justice, in 2010, whereas he was the minister in control of the put up workplace.

His defence of the system, which adopted a nose to nose assembly with Mr Bates, is contained in a 2010 letter which he despatched to a Labour MP who had highlighted the plight of considered one of her personal constituents caught up within the scandal.

The disclosure of the letter, which has been obtained by The Mail on Sunday beneath freedom of data legal guidelines, will enhance strain on Mr Davey who has discovered himself engulfed by the continuing scandal.

His critics declare he turned a blind eye to the issues of sub postmasters whereas he was serving because the minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs.

Sir Ed Davey boasted concerning the ‘integrity’ of the put up workplace’s flawed Horizon software program regardless of being warned by Alan Bates of the system’s catastrophic failings

The Liberal Democrats chief reportedly solely met Mr Bates on the recommendation of civil servants in an effort to head off unwelcome headlines 

He insists he did not do extra on the time as a result of he was lied to by the Post Office.

Earlier this week it emerged that he had solely agreed to satisfy with Mr Bates – the eponymous hero of the current ITV drama – on the recommendation of civil servants who believed not assembly him would generate unwelcome headlines at a time when journalists had been investigating the scandal.

In advance of the assembly in October 2010 he was suggested to not comply with any of the calls for made by Mr Bates, who was then the Chair of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance.

In the newly disclosed letter, which can be dated October 2010 Sir Ed repeated the Post Office’s claims concerning the Horizon system.

Several of the assertions he made within the letter at the moment are recognized to be inaccurate, together with his declare that solely workers in an precise put up workplace department might enter information into an Horizon terminal.

He wrote: ‘The integrity of Horizon is constructed on tamper proof logs, actual time again ups and absence of ‘backdoors’ so that each one information entry or acceptance is at department degree and is tagged in opposition to the log-on ID of the consumer.’

Mr Davey additionally raised the concept of ‘consumer errors’ within the letter although he had already been advised that it was the know-how, not the postmasters at fault.

He wrote: ‘Help strains can be found. If an error happens via a consumer mistake – there’s a full system in place for investigation and error decision.’

His remarks concerning the helpline will increase eyebrows as a result of it’s now recognized that decision workers misled callers so they might suppose they and never the system was at fault.

Mr Davey referred to his assembly with the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance in his letter to Glindon.

He assured her he had listened to the issues of campaigners and instructed his officers to lift a few of their factors with the Post Office.

But that declare contradicts the recommendation he had been given by his personal civil servants.

The paperwork obtained by this newspaper present that different MPs additionally wrote to Mr Davey to spotlight the plight of constituents caught up within the scandal.

In July 2010 the Labour MP Valerie Vaz wrote to him to spotlight her issues that the Horizon system was ‘ridden with faults.’

In October 2010 the Tory MP Jonathan Lord wrote to him to ask what motion he was intending to soak up the sunshine of his assembly with the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance.

Mary Glindon, the Labour MP for North Tyneside who acquired the letter from Mr Davey mentioned: ‘If you get a letter from the minister you do not think about that they’re saying one thing that they do not consider or that’s opposite to the info.’

‘Its very disappointing to study this.’

Chris Trousdale a former sub postmaster and sufferer of the scandal mentioned most of the claims in Mr Davey’s letter had been merely incorrect.

Other MPs wrote to Sir Ed, who was then the minister in control of the put up workplace, to voice the plight of constituents’ who had been caught up within the scandal

Mr Trousdale mentioned Sir Ed ought to have agreed to satisfy campaigners earlier and acted on their issues instantly.

He mentioned: ‘My opinion is that in his place, a place of oversight, if somebody has repeatedly come ahead for a gathering and he has been given data from a gaggle of people that have grow to be organised absolutely the very first thing you’ll do when given assurances by the Post Office is to ask probing questions. It’s the minimal you’ll do.’

He added: ‘Mr Davey now claims he was misled or lied to by Post Office officers. But you can not now go round saying individuals lied to you with out figuring out these individuals and figuring out what they mentioned.’

A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats mentioned: ‘Ed held the primary assembly on file with Alan Bates to listen to his issues and put these issues on to the put up workplace. Ed – like Alan Bates, the sub-postmasters and each different put up workplace minister – was lied to by the put up workplace.

‘These lies from the put up workplace represent an unlimited conspiracy and led to the best miscarriage of justice of our age.’