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Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailNewly released documents show that Post Office chiefs secretly ditched forensic accountants who found problems in the Horizon IT system – with the full knowledge of David Cameron’s coalition government.A Post Office committee called “Project Sparrow”, decided to sack Second Sight, a firm of investigators which uncovered evidence the computer system was faulty, and bring the investigation in-house.The secret plan to get rid of the firm was exposed in minutes from two meetings of the group that took place in April 2014, the BBC reported.Kevan Jones has warned of a potential second scandal involving IT software used by the Post Office (James Manning/PA)The records show that former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, senior lawyer Chris Aujard, and Richard Callard, a senior civil servant at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, were all part of the Post Office committee.Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates told the broadcaster: “It’s been a cover-up from start to finish. That’s coming out now. It’s undeniable.“And this is what we’ve been up against all the way. We’ve always known they were covering up – it’s just been very difficult to find proof.”Second Sight first identified various IT bugs in the Horizon computer system in a report on 8 July 2013, which cast doubt on the data used to prosecute sub-postmasters. Alan Bates told the BBC the whole scandal ha “been a cover-up from start to finish” The Post Office was warned by its own legal counsel this could be in breach of its legal duties as sub-postmasters who were convicted should have been made aware of the faults.However months later when “Project Sparrow” met in April 2014, the members said it wanted to pay “token payments” to sub-postmasters, in the region of around £1m. The compensation bill is now expected to reach £1bn.Months after the meetings, former Post Office minister Jo Swinson reiterated the independent role of Second Sight in a parliamentary question in 2014 on the Horizon IT scandal. Vince Cable was the business secretary at the time.Second Sight’s contract was terminated in 2015 and the operations of “Project Sparrow” were not uncovered until years later.In a statement, the Post Office said: “We never discuss individuals and it would be inappropriate to comment on allegations being made outside of the Inquiry, whose role it is to consider all of the evidence on the issues it is examining and independently reach conclusions.“We fully share the Public Inquiry’s aims to get to the truth of what happened in the past and accountability.”In other developments, Labour MP Kevan Jones warned on Thursday of a potential “second scandal” involving the Post Office after concerns were raised that subpostmasters were convicted over losses involving another IT system.Labour MP Kevan Jones has called on Post Office boss Nick Read to come before MPs to answer questions following reports about faults with the Capture software used for accounting.Number 10 has said it wants the matter investigated and “robust action” must take place if there are any issues.The i newspaper first reported concerns about the prospect of a second faulty IT system, following on from the scandal over the Horizon system.In a letter to Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake, Mr Jones said: “We know the Capture software was faulty, resulting in corrupted data. We also know that the Post Office knew about these faults at the time, as it openly communicated with sub-postmasters about them.” More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailThe UK’s communications watchdog has outlined two options for changes to letter deliveries as part of a review expected to save Royal Mail hundreds of millions of pounds.Ofcom said the two “primary options” could include letters being delivered to households and businesses five or even three times a week, or the slow down of deliveries across three or more days.The first move could save the company between £100m and £650m and the second between £150m and £650m, according to the regulator.It comes after Rishi Sunak, which would have to approve any changes, appeared to rule out Royal Mail being allowed to scrap Saturday deliveries.But Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said that changes to the postal system could be required as the number of letters being sent each year has halved since 2011, while people are getting many more parcels than they used to.Ofcom presented two options for either cutting frequency or speed of postal deliveries Currently, Royal Mail has an obligation to deliver letters six days a week to all 32 million addresses in the UK for the price of a stamp, no matter where the letters are going.Royal Mail, which recorded a £419 million loss in its previous financial year, said the current service requirement is “simply not sustainable”.Dame Melanie said: “Postal workers are part of the fabric of our society and are critical to communities up and down the country. But we’re sending half as many letters as we did in 2011, and receiving many more parcels.“The universal service hasn’t changed since then, it’s getting out of date and will become unsustainable if we don’t take action.“So we’ve set out options for reform so there can be a national discussion about the future of universal post. In the meantime, we’re making sure prices will remain affordable by capping the price of second class stamps.”Ofcom said Royal Mail could cut the frequency or speed of deliveries as part of a cost cutting exercise Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said the PM’s “strong view is that Saturday deliveries provide flexibility” and “would not countenance” seeing Saturday deliveries scrapped.The postal minister Kevin Hollinrake reiterated on Wednesday that government remained committed to a six-day service from Royal Mail – calling a Saturday delivery “sacrosanct”.Neither the minister, nor No 10, have said whether they would be prepared to legislate to keep a Saturday delivery.Mr Hollinrake told Times Radio: “The prime minister has been very clear on this, six-day delivery is really important for many people in this country, many of our citizens- but also for many of our businesses.”The Tory minister also said that nationalising Royal Mail would not be a “good option”. He said the “one advantage” of it remaining in private hands is “the amount of investments going in”.The Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said the idea of a thre-day delivery “feels like a slap in the face”, adding: “Regular deliveries are what the country has come to expect.”The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warned that cutting the six-day delivery service could “cause real disruption to our economy”.And the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said a three-day delivery service would “destroy” Royal Mail.CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “We are not resistant to change, but we will not sign up to a three-day universal service obligation, which would destroy Royal Mail as we know and would impact thousands of jobs.”The Post Office, which was spun off when Royal Mail when the latter was privatised in 2012, said many people and businesses “depend on a reliable letter service”.Under fire over the Horizon IT scandal, a Post Office spokesman said there must be a “national debate” around how consumers need a parcel and letter delivery service to work for them in the 2020s. More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailJeremy Hunt has hinted that further tax cuts could be on the cards following the recent reduction in national insurance. The Chancellor, who will deliver a spring Budget in March, told the Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday evening that taxes will not return to pre-pandemic levels in “one go”. However, Mr Hunt did not give any timetable for when further cuts could take place. “After a period in which taxes have gone up in order to pay for the costs of the pandemic or the £3,500 of help we gave people in the cost of living crisis to a typical family, we now want to bring that tax burden back down,” Mr Hunt told the presenter. “Now we can’t get all the way back to where we were pre-pandemic in one go, but we can make a start. And this is about £1,000, just under £1,000 for a typical two-earner family. But we would like to go further as and when it’s affordable and responsible to do so.”It comes after a two percentage point cut in national insurance, from 12% to 10%, took effect last Saturday.Several economists have pointed to the fact that despite the national insurance cut, many households are still facing the burden of high taxes. Labour also branded the move a “raw deal”.There is speculation in Westminster that further tax cuts could be announced in the spring budget on 6 March, with a general election expected in the second half of the year. Some Tory MPs are lobbying the Chancellor to push ahead with tax cuts in a bid to woo voters.In the same interview, Mr Hunt also said that the carer’s allowance of £76.75 a week was never meant to be a replacement for income.He said: “We keep all the benefits under review. What I would say is the carer’s allowance was never meant to be income replacement. It’s meant to be support for people doing caring duties. But lots of people do caring duties for members of their family and people they know well.“But I don’t think it’s possible for the state to fully replace income. But we have increased the carer’s allowance and we will continue to keep it under review.” More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailDrivers will not be fined for breaching a new 20mph speed limit in Wales if they are “genuinely confused” by the rule change.The outgoing First Minister Mark Drakeford said today that only those who“deliberately” break the law will face consequences, but that police will not jump straight to enforcement if people have simply “misunderstood”.Last year, Wales became the first country in the UK to drop the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph in built-up areas, with enforcement of the limit starting this month.According to GoSafe Wales, who work with the police and local authorities on road safety, the enforcement threshold for prosecution is 10 per cent plus 4mph in a 20mph zone. This means you can only be prosecuted if you are caught doing 26mph in a 20mph limit in Wales.This is higher than the enforcement threshold in the rest of Britain which is 10 per cent plus 2mph, meaning you will get prosecuted for going 23mph in a 20mph zone.Asked during a press conference in Cardiff about the possibility of people being fined because the messaging over the law has not been clear enough, Mr Drakeford said: “I don’t think they will be fined in those circumstances.“I think if the police find somebody driving above 20 miles an hour and the reason is because they are genuinely confused about that, then that’s why the police will always start with education and conversation.A vandalised 20mph sign on Sloper Road on September 23, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales“I don’t think in those circumstances of genuine confusion, the police will move to enforcement.”The First Minister conceded that the policy should be “fine-tuned” and kept “under review” to ensure consistency across different local authorities throughout Wales.There have been “anomalies” in its introduction, he said, including with road signage which some drivers have complained is unclear.Mr Drakeford said that in cases where motorists drive “well above” the limit the law would have to be enforced.Asked to specify what speed would be considered “well above” 20mph, he said previous cases relating to pre-existing 20mph zones had involved people driving “closer to 30 than 20”.“Not a couple of miles over, but well in excess of what people were obliged to do, so if that’s a sort of rule of thumb I think that’s how the police have interpreted that so far,” he said.A petition against the rollout of the law, on the Welsh Parliament’s petitions page, has now been signed by more than 460,000 people.The two candidates in the running to replace Mr Drakeford as the next Welsh Labour leader after his planned resignation in March have said they would launch a review of the law if elected.Mr Drakeford said on Monday he had been clear from the outset that the policy would be kept under review.Additional reporting by PA More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailJeremy Hunt is under fire as it emerged that his key Budget promise to expand free childcare in 2024 is fast unravelling amid “chaos” over funding arrangements.The chancellor had announced a major extension of free care for this spring in a bid to win back voters – but experts say the sector has not been given enough cash or support to deliver his pledge.With the Tories hoping for a boost in the run-up to this year’s general election, eligible working parents of two-year-olds have been told they can claim 15 hours a week of free childcare from 1 April.However, council bosses have warned that the funding will not be in place for nurseries by then – with cash-strapped providers facing a “huge crisis” over the number of children places they can offer.Experts say many families could miss out at the last minute – with some parents telling The Independent they have already been told by their local nursery they cannot offer Mr Hunt’s flagship policy.Critics laid the blame squarely on Rishi Sunak’s government – saying Mr Hunt and fellow ministers had not backed up their “ill-thought-out” policy with enough financial support.Chancellor Jeremy Hunt during a visit to Busy Bees Battersea Nursery in south LondonLabour shadow children’s minister Helen Hayes said the Tories’ childcare offer to voters in the election year has fallen at the first hurdle.The frontbencher said the government had squeezed the timeline for funding confirmation, adding: “By failing to plan for delivery, their promises on childcare have been set up to fail.”The Liberal Democrats said there was a huge crisis looming – with the prospect of some nurseries collapsing – unless the government comes forward with proper funding guarantees.The party’s education spokesperson Munira Wilson said: “How does this government expect to roll out expansion of childcare when the amount they invest in childcare services is a fraction of what’s needed?” The Department for Education (DfE) says local authorities have until the end of March to confirm how much they will pay nurseries for extra places.But childcare under the programme is set to begin on 1 April – meaning many parents may not receive confirmation about a place until weeks after they want to start.Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are under pressure to deliver wider free childcare before an election expected later in 2024 One expert said parents may even be forced to abandon their returns to work at the last minute if do not get the free childcare they expect.Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “This chaos is the fault of the government. The government introduced this new childcare system, they are responsible for funding it. It is an ill-thought-out policy.”Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Unfortunately, information for local authorities and providers has only recently been made available by central government, and this means they are having to work within a challenging timeframe to ensure arrangements are in place to expand before the start of the April rollout.”A mother-of-one living in Northamptonshire told The Independent her local nursery has just warned parents they will not be offering Mr Hunt’s flagship policy and will stop providing the funded places for three-year-olds they previously offered.The Independent recently revealed thousands of nurseries had been forced to close their doors amid staff shortages and a lack of funding, sparking warnings that Mr Hunt’s Budget pledge to offer 30 hours of free childcare for under-fives from 2025 was doomed to failure.A lot of people are pinning their hopes upon this materialising. I don’t think the government have grasped the danger of making false promises to parents who can’t keep their head above water. Sarah RonanThe Early Years Alliance said eligible parents who apply for the scheme through the government website will be given a code to take to a childcare provider who will then notify them if they have spaces available.Mr Leitch said: “You may qualify for your entitlement but that does not guarantee you a place. It is a huge assumption that you would automatically be given a place. If you are, it may not be the hours you are looking for.“Alternatively, you could be placed on a waiting list until a space becomes available. This code is then useless – it is a bit like telling someone you can have this free food in a supermarket but then seeing empty shelves when you arrive.”Mr Leitch, whose organisation represents nurseries, preschools and registered childminders among others, said they have encountered parents who have been on waiting lists for 18 months.“Waiting lists are likely to grow and grow,” he added. “Parents desperate to return to work will have to abandon their plans and take stock of what to do next. Even if providers have the funding for spaces, the fact is that they may well be struggling to recruit adequate people.”Mr Leitch argued that Mr Hunt’s new measures are an example of “announce first and do the thinking afterwards”.The expert noted the childcare sector is already struggling to provide the 30 hours of free childcare per week in term time for three- and four-year-olds in England that was rolled out by ministers in 2017.Mr Sunak and education secretary Gillian Keegan visit Busy Bees nursery in Harrogate Lauren Ellis, a teacher, said her “fantastic” local nursery has been pushed into a position where they can no longer offer any funded places.“It is a nationwide issue,” the 35-year-old said. “It is not their fault. If the funding had come in, it would have halved my childcare costs. It is another government promise which looks great on the face of it and is a great headline. It looks great going to an election but it is completely flawed. There is a lot of confusion among parents and they can’t plan ahead or plan for other children.”Ms Ellis said her mortgage had shot up to an extortionate rate for their small two-bedroom house, and childcare was their second highest outgoing.“We have cut down on holidays,” she added. “We now have no chance of going abroad. Buying new cars – no chance. Also on takeaways and our own clothes shopping.”Sarah Ronan, director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, said she has spoken to parents who are delaying having children until the new offer is rolled out.“A lot of people are pinning their hopes upon this materialising,” Ms Ronan added. “I don’t think the government have grasped the danger of making false promises to parents who can’t keep their head above water.”If the funding had come in, it would have halved my childcare costs. It is another government promise which looks great on the face of it and is a great headline. It looks great going to an election but it is completely flawed. Lauren EllisShe urged local authorities to tell providers rates for the new free-hours policy as quickly as possible – explaining services will remain unsure if they can deliver the scheme and how many places they have available until they know the rate.Ms Ronan added: “The government has run this sector into the ground. The government has knowingly underfunded the sector.”Recent figures from the schools’ inspectorate Ofsted revealed that 3,320 of the 62,300 nurseries and childminders caring for under-fives in England had shut their doors in the past year alone, leaving 17,800 fewer childcare places available.The number of nurseries and early years services for under-fives has plummeted by a quarter in recent years, from 84,970 in 2015-2016 to 63,207 in 2022-2023.Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry has estimated that implementing the government’s expanded childcare plans will cost £8.9bn rather than the £4bn ministers have allocated to fund the increase in places.Responding for the government, a DfE spokesperson said: “We are rolling out the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever, and are confident in the strength of our childcare market to deliver 30 free hours of childcare for working parents from nine months old up to when they start school.“Our data shows the number of early years staff and places increased in 2023 – but we know there is more to be done. That’s why we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and have allocated £100m in capital funding for more early years and wraparound places and spaces.”They added: “We published our 2024-25 hourly funding rates in November and encourage local authorities to update providers on initial budgets as early as possible ahead of the first phase of the rollout in April.” More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailRishi Sunak’s claim that the government has cleared the asylum backlog has been called “misleading” by a fact checking organisation. Full Fact, a charity that combats misinformation, reviewed the claim after a row broke out about the backog, with Labour accusing Mr Sunak of a “barefaced lie”. It comes after the statistics watchdog, the Office for Statistics Regulation, launched an investigation into Mr Sunak’s announcement. The prime minister had said that the pledge to clear all so-called legacy asylum claims – counted as those submitted before June 2022 – had been met. Official statistics released on Tuesday showed that 4,500 of these cases had still to be processed. Mr Sunak then went on to suggest that he had cleared the entire backlog, despite data showing that 98,599 claims were still waiting on a decision. He wrote on X, formely Twitter: “I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”The Home Office said Rishi Sunak’s commitment to clear the legacy asylum backlog ‘has been delivered’ Now Full Fact have decided that this statement was misleading. In their review, published on their website on Wednesday, they wrote: “This is misleading. The PM’s claim relates to a subsection of outstanding asylum cases called the ‘legacy backlog’, rather than the overall backlog of cases which still stands at almost 100,000. “Most ‘legacy backlog’ cases have been resolved but around 4,500 are still marked as awaiting an initial decision.”Reacting to Mr Sunak’s comments, Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said they were “just not true”, and shadow immigration minister Steven Kinnock accused him of a “barefaced lie” that was “an insult to the public’s intelligence”. Home secretary James Cleverly had also said that “every single” legacy asylum case had been processed, despite thousands remaining unresolved. He said that the government had “committed to processing all those applications” not completing them. He said it was “impossible” to know when they would be given decisions and said the cases were “complex”. More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailThe Prime Minister has successfully defused a Tory revolt, following a crunch vote on his flagship migration policy.The government’s new Rwanda bill would order British judges and courts to ignore some sections of the UK Human Rights Act to allow for the deportation of asylum seekers to the African country.Under the plan, asylum seekers that arrive in Britain will be sent to Rwanda for processing where they could either be granted refugee status or allowed to stay.If not, they could apply to settle there on other grounds or seek asylum in another “safe third country”. So far, no asylum seekers have been sent there.There has been significant division on both sides of the Conservative Party over the bill, with the prime minister facing another battle with his own MPs within weeks after parliament backed his emergency legislation by 313 votes to 269.And he now faces an uphill struggle to pass the bill at its next hurdle after Tory rebels, many of whom abstained instead of voting it down, warned they could not support it without significant changes.It comes as Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker waded into the long-running debate, signing a letter, along with dozens of celebrities and high-profile figures, calling for a new asylum system that “reflects the will of the British people”.We want to know if you think it’s time the divisive immigration scheme was scrapped altogether? What would a new asylum system look like to you? If you want to share your opinion then add it in the comments and we’ll highlight the most insightful ones as they come in.All you have to do is sign up and register your details – then you can then take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here.Join the conversation with other Independent readers below. More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailPolice are investigating a post by a retired university professor calling on someone to “blow up” a Jewish Labour Movement meeting.The University of Bristol has stripped Harriet Bradley of her emeritus and honorary status, and it’s understood the University of West England has done the same.Prof Bradley, a former Labour councillor and sociology lecturer, has apologised “to all people who’ve been hurt” by the post on social media, which she later deleted.She said she deeply regretted writing the post “in a moment of anger”.The Metropolitan Police have recorded a “massive increase” in antisemitic hate crimes since the eruption of violence between Israel and Hamas militants.Avon and Somerset Police said they were investigating the post as “an incident of malicious communications”.It was in response to a meeting by the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) next month, where speakers include shadow health secretary Wes Streeting.Ms Bradley quoted that post, adding: “Somebody blow up the venue!”The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it had reported the post to counterterrorism police.But the academic admitted it had been a mistake, telling LabourList: “I would like to apologise to anybody hurt or frightened by my tweet. It was a remark made as a joke but I can see now it was a terrible mistake in awful taste.“I am of Jewish heritage, had a Jewish partner for many years and many of my extended family are Jewish.“I feel great respect for the Jewish people but I deplore what Netanyahu and the Israeli Defence Force are doing in Gaza, killing and mutilating thousands of children and babies.”She said her “ill-thought joke” reflected her anger at the Labour Party’s position on Israel.“Of course I do not want to harm anyone…I repeat my apology which is sincere and hope you will make it clear that I wish no harm to British Jews.”Shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire said she was putting pressure on the University of Bristol to take action.The university said: “We are deeply dismayed by the inflammatory comment on social media from a former employee who has long retired and are taking appropriate action.”On Friday, the university added: “We can confirm that we have withdrawn the Emeritus and Honorary Status of retired employee Professor Harriet Bradley with immediate effect.”The University of West England said on Wednesday that it would investigate further.A spokesman for the Community Security Trust charity said: “It is utterly shocking that anyone would make a threat like this against Jewish people, at a time when anti-Jewish hate crime is at record levels.“It’s even worse that this comes from a former councillor and academic who ought to know better.” More