Post Office scandal - live: Rishi Sunak announces new law to quash convictions of Horizon victims
More than 100 others involved have come forward since ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office aired
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Rishi Sunak has announced new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers after one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.
The prime minister also said there would be a new upfront payment of £75,000 for some of those affected.
Mr Sunak said a new law would be introduced so people wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal are “swiftly exonerated and compensated’’.
He told the Commons: “This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history.
“People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.”
Another 130 people affected by the scandal have now come forward since a new TV programme dramatising the miscarriage of justice aired, postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) would normally look at individual convictions and send them to the Court of Appeal. But only 93 of at least 700 convictions have been overturned to date.
See below how our coverage unfolded:
“Injustice goes far beyond just the sub-postmasters”, SNP leader warns prime minister
Leader of the Scottish National Party, Stephen Flynn has told the prime minister that the Horizon Scandal, which saw 700 sub-postmasters across the country prosecuted from 1999 to 2015, is not the only unfolding scandal of injustice in the country.
Flynn pointed to a number of ongoing issues, including the WASPI campaign, the Equitable Life scandal, the infected blood scandal, the Grenfell Tower fire and the Hillsborough incident.
He told MPs during PMQs that “when the public come knocking on the doors of this chamber seeking justice, the government only ever answers when they have no options left”, and that the public are “angry” at Westminster because “they know this place never really changes”.
Why Rishi Sunak's 'back to square one with Labour' isn't quite the attack he thinks
Rishi Sunak has come under fire for his latest attack line, warning voters that a Labour government would take them “back to square one”.
Sports journalist Barney Ronay pointed out that the phrase comes from early radio football announcers, when a grid of numbered squares was used to explain where the ball was.
Square one meant a team passing back to their defenders, a tactic often employed by all successful teams in the modern game.
Mr Ronay said the irony was lost on the PM.
Others have pointed out that, with the chaos facing voters at the moment, going back to square one would not be an unwelcome change.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Stephen Flynn noted the involvement of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in Government during the years when the Horizon scandal took place.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “This scandal... has actually unfolded over decades and with multiple people clearly at fault, but since 2019 and the High Court case this Government established a statutory inquiry... to uncover what went wrong, established an independent advisory board and has established three different compensation schemes paying out £150 million to over 2,500 people with now almost two thirds having received final compensation.
“But we must go further and faster, which is why we have made new announcements today.”
The SNP Westminster leader said: “The reality is that subpostmasters never stood a chance against the Westminster establishment, did they?”
Sunak announces new legislation to ‘swiftly exonerate’ Post Office victims
A new law will be introduced to exonerate hundreds of Post Office branch managers caught up in the Horizon IT scandal, the Prime Minister has announced. Rishi Sunak said they were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history” in his first Prime Minister’s Questions of 2014 on Wednesday (10 January). Hundreds of subpostmasters were convicted of swindling money based on evidence from a flawed IT system. The Prime Minister told MPs: “We will introduce new primary legislation to ensure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.”
Lindsay Hoyle accidentally calls Keir Starmer ‘prime minister’
This is the moment Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is mistakenly called “Prime Minister” by the Speaker of the House of Commons. Lindsay Hoyle made the mistake in a heated Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (10 January), when Rishi Sunak confirmed new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers, Addressing MPs, Mr Hoyle said: “I can’t hear the questions. I don’t want any more interruptions, please, it’s a very important topic.” He then looked over at Sir Keir and said “Mr Prime Minister”, before the Labour leader continued with his speech.
Starmer says Tories have ‘lost control’ in heated PMQs clash: ‘Britain is breaking’
Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of "losing control" in a heated clash with Rishi Sunak over Rwanda legislation. The Labour leader also claimed the prime minister "wanted to scrap the scheme when he was trying to sneak in as Tory leader." Mr Sunak, however, denied the “second hand” reports and said he is “absolutely clear” that the government will stop the boats. "This is the party that has lost control of the borders," Sir Keir said, before accusing the Tories of "boasting while Britain is breaking".
Post Office showed ‘incompetence and malevolence’, says minister
Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the public inquiry had already shown that Post Office displayed both “incompetence and malevolence” towards its staff in the Horizon scandal.
He said: “We have seen whole lives ruined by this brutal and arbitrary exercise of power.”
Rishi Sunak said earlier at PMQs that staff were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.
£75k payments show Sunak out of touch, says victim
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 Rishi Sunak was “out of touch”.
Replying to the PM on Twitter, formerly X, she said: “You still haven’t paid to GLO group [Group Litigation Order] 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.”
Watch: Post Office showed ‘incompetence and malevolence’, says minister
Labour denies dog-whistle racism after Starmer claims Sunak doesn’t ‘get Britain’
Labour has denied that Sir Keir Starmer was attempting dog-whistle racism when he said Rishi Sunak “doesn’t get Britain” at PMQs, writes Adam Forrest.
Mr Sunak’s press secretary responded to the attack by saying: “The prime minister is as British as Starmer.”
And former Tory cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi told the Express: “I flinched when I heard [Sir Keir] trot out the sort of line that I’ve had to deal with all my life.” Mr Zahawi said: “Not only is the prime minister as British as anyone else, those of us who come from immigrant families or who came here and made the UK our homes know exactly what makes Britain great.”
He added: “I thought Labour had moved on from the dark days of Jeremy Corbyn, especially when he said that Jews were incapable of understanding English humour, but it seems to be the same old Labour Party underneath the surface.”
However, Sir Keir’s spokesman insisted the Labour leader had been referring to the PM’s lack of experience of the real economic struggles faced by many Britons today.
The Labour official said it was a reference to “the way in which the prime minister constantly talks as if everything is going brilliantly in this country, and that is simply not the lived experience of hard-working families up and down this country”.
Asked whether it was a dog-whistle to racist voters, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Absolutely not at all. The point Keir was making when he said ‘getting Britain’ is the reality of life facing people.”
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