Kevan Jones MP: The Government Must Deliver Justice For The Victims Of The Post Office Scandal

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 24: The logo of the Post Office is displayed outside a branch of the Post Office on October 24, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

The ITV drama ’Mr Bates Versus The Post Office demonstrated the tragic cost the Post Office Horizon system had on thousands of innocent postmasters.

Lives ruined, reputations shredded and lives lost.

For those of us, like former Conservative MP - and now peer - James Arbuthnot and myself, who have been campaigning with the victims of the scandal, it was all too familiar.

But it was good that it was brought to a wider audience. Alan Bates and the campaigners were not just lied to and deceived for years, but with the Post Office, owned by the government, faced  the full weight of the state against them in their fight for justice.

So what next? Firstly, the government needs to speed up the payment of compensation to victims.

Sadly, too many have died before compensation has been paid.

They include my constituent Tom Brown, who first alerted to me the scandal when he visited my surgery over 10 years ago.

Secondly, 927 postmasters were prosecuted, but only 93 have had their convictions overturned.

With evidence now produced not only in court, but also at the public enquiry, the flawed nature of the Horizon system is well documented.

Therefore, it raises the question how any of these convictions can be sound and the government needs to find a way of overturning them.

Thirdly, I welcome the announcement this weekend that the Metropolitan Police are investigating the scandal around the Horizon system.

It is important that those individuals who oversaw this miscarriage of justice are held accountable for their actions.

Compensation is important for the victims, but there will be no closure for them unless those responsible are made to justify their actions in a court of law.

Fourthly, much of the criticism around the scandal has rightly been directed at those in charge at the Post Office, but Fujitsu, the company that provided the Horizon system, need to explain and accept their role in what happened.

Until this is done, the government should put a moratorium on awarding any further contracts to Fujitsu.

Fifthly, the Post Office is wholly owned by the UK government although it acts as an arm’s length commercial organisation with a single government shareholder on the board, usually a senior civil servant.

Questions need to be asked about what these individuals over the years told ministers, and what ministers did in response to what they were told.

The Post Office is just one of a number of organisations which have this type of arrangement and I think there is now a need for a fundamental review of the accountability of these organisations to parliament and taxpayers.

Without change, similar scandals will occur in future. Therese next time, though, there may not be a tenacious individual like Alan Bates and his campaigners around to right the wrong.

Kevan Jones is the Labour MP for North Durham and a member of the Horizon compensation advisory board.

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