I know that many of you, like me, will have watched ITV's Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, which has brought the Post Office Horizon scandal back to the forefront of our minds over the last couple of weeks. It was a truly compelling drama which illustrated both the mendacity of the Post Office and the enormous human impact their actions had on blameless individuals.
I am not aware of any sub-postmasters in Newcastle-under-Lyme directly affected by Horizon, but I know the TV drama has persuaded more victims to come forward. If you or anyone who know in Newcastle has been affected, please do contact me via aaron.bell.mp@parliament.uk.
I spoke about this issue in the House of Commons in December 2021 (which you can watch in the attached video), where I highlighted the terrible impact felt by hundreds of sub-postmasters who were prosecuted, or threatened with prosecution, because of unexplained discrepancies and losses in their accounting. This was later found to have been caused by failings in the "Horizon" software that had been installed by the Post Office.
The Government is taking steps to address this issue, including the Post Office Compensation Bill we passed before Christmas, and the Prime Minister has today announced that the Government will introduce legislation to quash the convictions of all sub-postmasters caught up in the scandal.
I also welcome former Post Office boss Paula Vennells' announcement today that she will hand back her CBE. In my view it would be appropriate for a CBE to instead be awarded to Alan Bates himself. I understand he turned down an honour in the New Year’s list because Mrs Vennells still had one; hopefully he will now feel able to accept the recognition he is due.
I have seen several comments on Facebook highlighting the parallels between this scandal and the ongoing saga with the EA and Walley's Quarry. Amongst other things, I will be making precisely this point to Environment Agency Chief Executive Philip Duffy when I meet with him on Monday, and I shall of course keep you updated with the outcome of that meeting.