Rishi Sunak adds to pressure on former Post Office head Paula Vennells to have CBE stripped over Horizon scandal

Published

2 years ago

January 8, 2024

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Rishi Sunak has added to the pressure on the former head of the Post Office to have her CBE removed in the wake of the Horizon scandal.

The prime minister’s spokesman said he would “strongly support” the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it were to look at taking away Paula Vennells’s award.

There are growing calls for Ms Vennells’s CBE to be rescinded or handed back, after ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office brought the issue back to the fore.

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The show tells how former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were held liable by the Post Office for financial discrepancies thrown up by its computerised accounting system Horizon, developed by Fujitsu.

The justice secretary, Alex Chalk, and postal minister Kevin Hollinrake were set to meet on Monday to discuss the next steps to address the scandal.

A public petition to remove Ms Vennells’s CBE has received more than a million signatures.

The petition is made out to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the honours Forfeiture Committee in the Cabinet Office.

Mr Sunak said the government “should do everything we can” to make the scandal right.

Speaking earlier today, the prime minister said: “These things obviously started a very long time ago, and it’s right that they’re looked at properly and the stories are appalling.

“People were treated absolutely appallingly. That’s wrong. And we should do everything we can to make it right.”

Mr Sunak said that, as chancellor, he approved the funding for the compensation to be paid to victims of the scandal.

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he would support the government if it brought forward legislation to exonerate the hundreds of people who were convicted.

Sir Keir Starmer added that the Crown Prosecution Service – which he used to run – should take over the cases the Post Office was involved in, so there is an “independent prosecutor looking at these cases in the future”.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it is investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences after the handling of the Horizon IT scandal.

The organisation’s pursuit of branch managers led to more than 700 prosecutions, criminal convictions and, in some cases, prison sentences.

Reports suggest that since Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, 50 new potential victims have approached lawyers.

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A public inquiry into the scandal is also ongoing.

Ms Vennells has previously said she is “truly sorry” for the “suffering” caused to sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted of offences.

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Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

Published

22 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.