Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA law aimed at quashing the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters caught up in the Horizon IT scandal is being introduced by the government on Wednesday.The proposed Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill “marks an important step forward in finally clearing” the names of hundreds of wronged branch managers who have had their lives “callously torn apart”, prime minister Rishi Sunak said.The legislation will exonerate those convicted in England and Wales on the basis of the faulty Horizon accounting software in what has been branded the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.The new law Downing Street said that under the law, convictions will be automatically quashed if they meet the following criteria:– Were prosecuted by the Post Office or Crown Prosecution Service;– Were for offences carried out in connection with Post Office business between 1996 and 2018;– Were for relevant offences such as theft, fraud and false accounting;– Were against subpostmasters, their employees, officers, family members or direct employees of the Post Office working in a Post Office that used the Horizon system software.Those with overturned convictions will receive an interim payment with the option of immediately taking a fixed and final offer of £600,000, according to No 10.Mr Sunak said: “I want to pay tribute to all the postmasters who have shown such courage and perseverance in their fierce campaign for justice, and to those who tragically won’t see the justice they deserve.“While I know that nothing can make up for what they’ve been through, today’s legislation marks an important step forward in finally clearing their names.“We owe it to the victims of this scandal who have had their lives and livelihoods callously torn apart, to deliver the justice they’ve fought so long and hard for, and to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.The long-running saga was put in a fresh spotlight by ITV’s acclaimed drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.The government will also bring forward “enhanced” financial redress for postmasters who, while not convicted or part of legal action against the Post Office, made good the apparent losses caused by the Horizon system from their own pockets.They will be entitled to a fixed sum award of £75,000 through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, Downing Street said.Those who have already settled for less money will have their compensation topped up to this level, while people can instead choose to have their claims assessed as part of the usual scheme process, in which there is no limit to compensation.The new Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, to be run by the Department for Business and Trade, is to open for applications to those who have had their convictions quashed “as soon as possible” once the legislation has passed.The government hopes the bill will receive royal assent and become law ahead of MPs’ summer holiday.Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “Postmasters have been fighting for justice for years, and I hope the introduction of today’s legislation is the light at the end of the tunnel they have been waiting for.”Business secretary Kemi Badenoch says ministers ‘won’t rest until every victim receives the compensation they are entitled to’ Business secretary Kemi Badenoch said ministers “won’t rest until every victim receives the compensation they are entitled to”.“It is absolutely right that we sweep away the convictions wrongly given to postmasters on the basis of bad evidence, and it is a disgrace that they were ever pursued by the Post Office,” she said.Ministers have decided the scale of the scandal is so great that the usual process of individuals going through the courts would take too long.Justice secretary Alex Chalk said: “These are exceptional circumstances which require an exceptional response to ensure those who were wrongly convicted can not only clear their names but be fairly and swiftly compensated.”Ministers acknowledge there is a risk the legislation could quash convictions of some people who were genuinely guilty of a crime. To counter this, subpostmasters will have to sign a legal statement that they did not commit the offence, leaving them liable to prosecution if they were subsequently found to have lied.The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, said the “devil will be in the detail” of such a complex proposal and warned against treating the scheme as a precedent for government intervention in the independent judiciary. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPeople whose asylum claims have been rejected in Britain are being offered thousands of pounds to move to Rwanda, under a new scheme drawn up by Rishi Sunak’s government.With MPs yet to approve the prime minister’s flagship scheme to forcibly send asylum-seekers whose claims are still pending to Rwanda, The Independent understands that a new deal has been struck with Kigali in recent weeks.The new plans will see Rwanda use the same framework established for the forcible removals scheme to also host people who choose to move there voluntarily after their asylum claims in the UK have been unsuccessful.Those deemed to have no right to live or work in the UK will instead be offered up to £3,000 to relocate to Rwanda, where it is claimed they will be provided with a package of support lasting up to five years to help them obtain housing, study, undertake training, and work.The Home Office is understood to have already started approaching people it believes could wish to volunteer for removal under the scheme, who otherwise will remain unable to work, secure accommodation or claim benefits in the UK.The plan mirrors existing voluntary removals schemes which, according to the Home Office saw 19,000 people given financial assistance to return to their “country of origin” last year, down from more than 31,000 in 2010.But it is unprecedented in the fact that people would be paid to move to Rwanda, a third country, as opposed to their country of origin. While Mr Sunak’s government insists Rwanda is a safe third country, this was disputed in the Supreme Court, whose damning ruling the prime minister is now seeking to override with new legislation, which will return to the House of Commons on Monday.Home secretary James Cleverly and Rwanda’s foreign minister Vincent Biruta shake hands after signing a new treaty in Kigali in December According to The Times, which first reported the plans, ministers believe the new scheme is lawful because it will be on a voluntary basis, and it will not be dependent upon the controversial new legislation gaining parliamentary approval. “We hope there will be failed asylum seekers out there who have no right to benefits or work in the UK, might be in hotels for prolonged periods of time and may want to take up the opportunity,” a government source told the paper.The Home Office rejected 30,967 asylum claims in 2023. Just over 4,000 of the 19,253 people who accepted voluntary resettlement were those whose claims had been rejected. Of the remainder, 15,243 people had committed crimes or overstayed their visas, with a further 6,393 enforced returns, according to The Times.A Home Office spokesman said: “In the last year, 19,000 people were removed voluntarily from the UK and this is an important part of our efforts to tackle illegal migration.“We are exploring voluntary relocations for those who have no right to be here to Rwanda, who stand ready to accept people who wish to rebuild their lives and cannot stay in the UK.“This is in addition to our Safety of Rwanda Bill and Treaty which, when passed, will ensure people who come to the UK illegally are removed to Rwanda.” More

George Galloway hit out at Labour and the Conservatives in his first House of Commons speech on returning to parliament, claiming most people “feel a wish for a plague on both their houses”.The leader of the Workers Party of Britain criticised the chancellor’s Budget as an “absolute nothing burger” which would not help Rochdale, the town he now represents.In his first Commons outing since he swore the oath of allegiance to the King and took his seat, Mr Galloway also paid tribute to his Labour predecessor Sir Tony Lloyd, whose death from cancer triggered the by-election which led to his victory. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as David Cameron takes questions in the House of Lords on Tuesday 12 March.The foreign secretary is likely to be questioned on increasing the amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza as he speaks to peers in the chamber.Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell, meanwhile, has said the British government will be pressing for a full investigation into reports Gazan medical staff were beaten and humiliated by Israeli troops.The BBC reported that staff at Nasser Hospital, in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, were blindfolded, forced to strip, and were repeatedly beaten by soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).The IDF has not responded directly to accounts the BBC has put to it, but denies medical staff were harmed in its operation.Mr Mitchell said the government would be pressing for a full explanation and an investigation into the reports, after being asked about them in the House of Commons.The minister, who acts as a deputy for Lord Cameron in the Commons, told MPs: “We have seen these reports. I think that a full explanation and investigation is required and that is what the British government is pressing for.” More

The Labour party is “very concerned” about Diane Abbott after alleged remarks made by a Tory donor towards her, shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds said.Frank Hester said he is “deeply sorry” after reportedly saying in 2019 the MP made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.The chief executive of The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) admitted making “rude” comments but said they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.”We’re very concerned about the impact of this on Dianne Abott,” Ms Dodds told Sky News on Tuesday, 12 March. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email A court in Belgium sentenced prominent far-right activist Dries Van Langenhove to a year in prison on Tuesday for running an organization that a judge said spread “racist, hateful, Nazi and negationist speech,” in a major ruling on how the nation deals with extremism. Five members of the extremist group that Van Langenhove led received suspended sentences, including two who work for the far-right Flemish Interest party, which is slated to make big gains in June elections. Tom Van Grieken, the leader of the Flemish Interest party, said the ruling was proof that “Belgian justice is rotten to the core” and called the proceedings “a political trial from day one.”They were accused of using a chat group to exchange racist, antisemitic and other extremist comments. Van Langenhove, a former Belgian parliamentarian, also had some of his civil rights suspended for a decade, making him ineligible for office.Investigative journalists from the VRT public broadcaster were at the heart of the case as their 2018 documentary on Van Langenhove’s Shield and Friends group highlighted its public and private militaristic and extremist activities. “The defendant raved about Nazi ideology, which has caused and continues to cause untold suffering to countless people. The file showed that he wants to undermine democratic society and replace it with a social model of white supremacy,” said Judge Jan Van den Berghe. The chats on the Shield and Friends site included the most macabre jokes and memes on anything from famine in Africa to Holocaust concentration camps. Van Langenhove, 30, said he did not commit any crimes. “A years-long investigation, on which the Justice Department wasted millions of euros of taxpayers’ money, shows that the … activists cannot be charged with anything other than some memes. Humor. Memes that I didn’t even post myself,” he said in a reaction.Some of the parties in the case lodged complaints following the VRT documentary. “The ridiculing of gas chambers, of incinerators, that was so over the top for me that I spontaneously lodged a complaint,” said Henri Heimans, a former magistrate whose parents survived the Nazi death camps. “Then, of course, I unwittingly ended up in a procedural battle that lasted for years.” Van Langenhove was not at the court in Ghent, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Brussels, but his lawyer said he would appeal the ruling, which automatically suspends his imprisonment. He was also fined 16,000 euros ($17,470). Right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism has been on the rise through much of Europe, and far-right political parties have made big inroads in many European Union nations over the past few years. They’re set to be a key issue at the June 6-9 EU elections. More

Michelle Donelan apologised for publicly posting a letter on social media falsely suggesting an academic had expressed sympathy for Hamas, saying she was sorry for the “distraction” caused by the false claim that cost the taxpayer £15,000.The science secretary later retracted her comments about Professor Kate Sang, who sits on the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) advisory group, and agreed to pay her damages.Ms Donelan posted a letter to UKRI on X/Twitter expressing “disgust and outrage” that the academic and Dr Kamna Patel had “shared extremist views”.Ms Donelan later accepted there was “no evidence” of her allegations. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMichelle Donelan has apologised for publicly posting a letter on social media falsely suggesting an academic had expressed sympathy for Hamas.The Science Secretary later retracted her comments about Professor Kate Sang and agreed to pay her £15,000 in taxpayer money.She accepted there was “no evidence” the academic, who had recently been appointed to the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion, was a Hamas supporter.Speaking at the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday, Ms Donelan said she should have privately written to UKRI raising her alleged concerns, instead of posting the letter on X, formerly known as Twitter.She also said that civil servants were aware that she was going to publish her letter on the platform.Ms Donelan told the committee: “While I always err on the side of transparency, I am now clear that in this case, I could have sent the letter in confidence to the UKRI in order for them to undertake the investigations privately.“And I do apologise for not having done so, and for any distraction that this decision has caused from this Government’s positive agenda.”She added: “I highlighted it on the platform that the original tweet was done on – Twitter, or X – and that was something I have apologised for.“With hindsight, I could have just sent it privately and if I had the ability to do it again, I would certainly just send it privately.“So I’ve said that publicly as well as retracting the original comments, which I do think is important.“In terms of advice, of course, with long-time precedent, we don’t get into the actual nature of the advice.“But what I can tell you here today, is that both policy and legal were not only cited but also cleared the approach taken.”The letter written by Ms Donelan expressed “disgust and outrage” that Prof Sang and another academic, Dr Kamna Patel, had “shared extremist views” and, in Prof Sang’s case, expressed sympathy for the terrorist group after the October 7 attacks in Israel.This followed a tweet by Prof Sang saying: “This is disturbing. Suella Braverman urges police to crack down on Hamas support in UK” with a link to an article by the Guardian describing the response to the Hamas attacks in the UK.Ms Donelan has since accepted that Prof Sang’s comments referred to the story as a whole, and not just the headline.The Science Secretary told the committee she is a champion of academic freedom of speech and that the incident had to be viewed in the context of the recent Hamas attack at the time.My actions were never motivated by any political desireScience Secretary Michelle DonelanMs Donelan continued: “And we have seen a great deal of hatred across online social media platforms – something that I had addressed directly with the platforms themselves – and we were very worried about potential violence on our own streets.”She also told the peers: “My actions were never motivated by any political desire.“They were motivated by a concern around whether proper process and due diligence had been followed.“And as I outlined at the very beginning, in my initial statement, the specific tweet, or X, that I saw I felt was concerning especially given the context at the time, and that is why I highlighted it for an investigation by UKRI.”Ms Donelan also explained that there is “no surveillance at all” of academics and she had been alerted to the initial tweet by an official within the department.Asked how the damage caused by the incident can be repaired, the Science Secretary said there would be an “internal review of processes to ensure that we learnt the lessons of this and that we don’t ever repeat those”. More