Sir Ed Davey parroted the Post Office’s defence when sub-postmasters raised considerations with him concerning the Horizon IT scandal.
Letters between the then-Minister for Postal Affairs, who’s now chief of the Liberal Democrats, and Alan Bates reveal Sir Ed’s willingness to imagine the Post Office. Mr Bates, a former sub-postmaster who has led the long-running marketing campaign for justice, grew to become more and more pissed off with Sir Ed for parroting the Post Office’s assurances that the Horizon system was not at fault.
The correspondence additionally reveal Sir Ed was warned 12 years in the past that authorized motion in opposition to the Post Office over the scandal may depart the taxpayer uncovered to “astronomical” prices. Mr Bates warned him of the massive potential “financial liability” in a 2011 letter – one in every of at the least 5 letters despatched to Sir Ed between 2010 and 2012, based on the Sunday Times.
In December 2010, Mr Bates minimize off contact for eight months after Sir Ed wrote him a letter saying the Post Office “continues to express full confidence in the integrity and robustness of the Horizon system”. In 2011, Mr Bates notified Sir Ed that solicitors appearing on behalf of the marketing campaign group had issued pre-action letters to the Post Office. He informed Sir Ed: “Having nailed your colours to the POL’s [Post Office Ltd] mast from the JFSA [Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance] standpoint there was little point in continuing a dialogue with you or your department at that point.”
A spokesman for Mr Davey informed the newspaper he raised Mr Bates’s considerations with the Post Office and “bitterly regrets that the Post Office was not honest with him”. They additionally stated that in hindsight he needs he may have carried out extra however that the Post Office’s failings meant the sub-postmasters had “no choice other than going to the High Court”.
Former Lib Dem chief Tim Farron defended Sir Ed and identified that he was the primary minister on the report to fulfill with Mr Bates – seven years and 5 ministers after Mr Bates’ first contact with a minister. He met Mr Bates solely 5 months after turning into Post Office Minister.
“Ed has said how much he regrets that the Post Office was lying to him, just like it was to everyone else. He’s experienced more than his fair share of tragedy in his life, I know he feels the pain of those affected by this scandal very deeply,” he stated.
The authorities has stepped in to foot the invoice for compensation after the Post Office stated that it couldn’t afford to take action. A petition demanding ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells is stripped of her CBE has gained tons of of 1000’s of signatures – skyrocketing from 100,000 on Thursday to almost 900,000 on Sunday morning.
The pressing demand comes after ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office analyzing the IT scandal that led to tons of of employees’ lives being ruined and a few wrongfully convicted make clear the scandal as soon as once more. More than 700 department managers have been prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, in what has been described as the most important miscarriage of justice in British authorized historical past.
Rishi Sunak this morning confirmed Post Office prosecutions are underneath assessment. The Prime Minister has stated the Government is tips on how to exonerate tons of of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted in the course of the Horizon IT scandal amid mounting stress to answer the “biggest miscarriage of justice” in British historical past.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is also analyzing whether or not the Post Office might be stripped of its function within the appeals course of, with many victims nonetheless making an attempt to overturn wrongful convictions.