Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history are to be exonerated, Rishi Sunak has announced.
After a two-decade long battle for justice hundreds of those caught up in the scandal will have their good names restored by the end of the year under the goverment’s plans.
There will also be a new upfront payment of £75,000 for some of those affected, after the PM said innocent people emboiled in the fiasco would be “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.
Ministers acted in the wake of widespread public outcry after ITV aired a drama, Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, based on the scandal over Christmas.
No 10 also suggested that Mr Bates could receive an honour for his campaign for justice, after former Post Office boss Paula Vennells finally bowed to intense public pressure and returned her CBE.
The PM’s press secretary said: “There is a formal process for honours… but it’s hard to think of someone more deserving of being rewarded through the honours system than him.”
Esther McVey, the so-called ‘common sense’ minister, said Mr Bates should receive a knighthood for exposing the Post Office accounting scandal “as soon as possible”.
It began when Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from outlets. Subpostmasters were forced to pay back many thousands of pounds, while hundreds were convicted based on the faults.
Sunak promised extra £75,000 upfront payments
Despite warnings from subpostmasters, the Post Office was prosecuting those caught up in the scandal as recently as 2015.
Mr Sunak said they were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.
He MPs: “We will introduce new primary legislation to ensure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.”
Downing Street insisted Fujitsu would be held to account if it is found guilty of wrongdoing by an independent inquiry.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We strongly believe that individuals, that businesses, will be held to account for one of the biggest miscarriages of justice this country has ever seen.
“We will not resile from that. But it is right that we allow an independent inquiry to get the facts, to set them out, and then we can act.”
Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the whole country had been united by the ITV drama starrring Toby Jones.
“We’ve all been moved by the stories of postmasters who have been unjustly convicted, and the terrible effects over a period of two decades on their finances, their health and their relationships,” he told MPs.
The postal affairs minister said the public inquiry into the scandal has already shown “not only incompetence, but malevolence in many of their actions”.
And he said while the government “recognises the importance of an independent court system and judiciary”, the government was prepared to take “unprecedented action” to overturn hundreds of convictions.
He said doing so would create a risk of an “unknown number of people” who have genuinely stolen from their Post Office branches being exonerated.
Ministers plans to bring forward new legislation “within weeks” which would overturn the conviction of all those convicted during the scandal in England and Wales.
To minimise the risk of dishonest postmasters being compensated alongside wrongly convicted postmasters, Mr Hollinrake said they would be asked to sign a statement swearing they did not commit the crimes they were accused of.
Anybody who wrongly signs the document will put themself at risk of prosecution for fraud, he said.
Senior Tory MP David Davis, who has campaigned for years for justice for postmasters, said it “looks as though the government has responded correctly”.
And, while welcoming the action, he urged the government to go further and require Fujitsu, which developed the faulty Horizon software, to contribute to some of the cost of compensating victims.
And he called for the government to accelerate investigations into those responsible so that those who “are really guilty” in the scandal can be convicted.
But Jo Hamilton, who was wrongfully convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds from the village shop she ran in Hampshire, said the £75,000 payments showed Mr Sunak was “out of touch”.
Replying to the PM on Twitter, formerly X, she said: “You still haven’t paid to GLO group and the fact that you think throwing £75k at people will help, just shows how completely out of touch you are. Wouldn’t even cover the interest on what has been stolen from them by POL.”
Shadow business minister Jonathan Reynolds told MPs it was important the government was exonerating postmasters, not pardoning them, “because a pardon does imply guilt that is then forgiven”.
He added: “We stand ready to work with the government to deliver a solution that achieves the long awaited justice and compensation.”
Retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams is chairing an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, considered the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British history.
