Post Office victims campaigner Alan Bates has told the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal that it was “pretty obvious” the organisation “were after me – one way or another”.
Mr Bates was also described as “unmanageable” by a former managing director at the organisation, documents disclosed at the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal have revealed.
Appearing before the inquiry today, Mr Bates said the Post Office “didn’t like me standing up to them” – and argued that they terminated his contract as a result.
His answers were said to be sobering and compelling by current Post Office chief executive Nick Read, who was speaking to reporters outside the inquiry.
Mr Bates’s role in bringing the scandal to light reached new levels of awareness in early January, when he was portrayed by actor Toby Jones in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Image: Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Public and political interest in the industrial-scale miscarriage of justice suffered by sub-postmasters was transformed by the television drama.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were prosecuted for theft and false accounting, while many more were ostracised and forced to leave their communities having borrowed large sums or lost their homes in an attempt to make up losses, many of which turned out to be due to errors in the Horizon accounting software used by the Post Office.
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Post Office inquiry resumes
What the Post Office knew in the early 2000s
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The inquiry heard today that Mr Bates was in regular contact with the Post Office’s IT helpdesk and in the early 2000s wrote to officials in the organisation detailing his numerous problems with the Horizon system.
Over two years and nine months, while Mr Bates and his assistants were running his Post Office branch in Llandudno, Wales, they made 507 calls to the helpline – of which 85 related to Horizon and balancing problems.
A loss generated by Mr Bates’s branch was formally written off at the Post Office via a standard form with a “delete as appropriate” box.
At the time Mr Bates recalled hearing a manager at the Post Office say: “Oh, it’s another one – the Horizon losses.”
It wasn’t until 2015 that the Post Office ceased prosecuting sub-postmasters using wrongful data from Horizon.
No apology was made until 2019 after a successful High Court challenge taken by Mr Bates and other sub-postmaster victims.
How Post Office dealt with Mr Bates
After persistently flagging issues to officials and refusing to repay a loss generated by Horizon, Mr Bates was dismissed, by letter, with no reason given for the firing.
A Post Office manager had instructed Mr Bates to make good the loss of roughly £1,000 shown in his accounting by the IT system.
Asked what he understood to be the reason for the termination, Mr Bates said: “Basically, I think it was because a) they didn’t like me standing up to them in the first instance; b) they were finding it awkward; and c) I don’t think they could answer these questions and they had a feeling I was going to carry on in a similar vein going forward.”
David Smith, then managing director of branch accounting at the Post Office, also described Mr Bates as “unmanageable” in an internal document on the integrity of the Horizon system.
The document detailed instances where problems with Horizon were raised.
Referring to Mr Bates’s troubles, the document said: “Bates had discrepancies… was dismissed because he became unmanageable.”
Document delays
Current Post Office CEO Mr Read denied that the Post Office’s repeated late submission of documents to the inquiry is an obstruction of the process.
Lawyers for the inquiry outlined a series of missed deadlines and broken agreements to provide documents in a timely manner so the material could be read, understood, and presented to witnesses.
Late disclosure in earlier stages of the inquiry was said by Jason Beer KC to be “highly disruptive” and the most recent delays were “very concerning”.
The Post Office has said it “regrets” that documents were not disclosed to the Horizon IT Inquiry “as early as all parties would have liked”.
A Post Office spokeswoman said: “We are fully committed to supporting the inquiry to establish the truth and we have disclosed almost half a million documents to date, reflecting both the unprecedented scale of the issues in the scandal and our commitment to transparency.”
Food inflation has hit its highest level in almost a year and could continue to go up, according to an industry body.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a 2.6% annual lift in food costs during April – the highest level since May last year and up from a 2.4% rate the previous month.
The body said there was a clear risk of further increases ahead due to rising costs, with the sector facing £7bn of tax increases this year due to the budget last October.
It warned that shoppers risked paying a higher price – but separate industry figures suggested any immediate blows were being cushioned by the effects of a continuing supermarket price war.
Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks trends and prices, said spending on promotions reached its highest level this year at almost 30% of total sales over the four weeks to 20 April.
It said that price cuts, mainly through loyalty cards, helped people to make the most of the Easter holiday with almost 20% of items sold at respective market leaders Tesco and Sainsbury’s on a price match.
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Its measure of wider grocery inflation rose to 3.8%, however.
Wider BRC data showed overall shop price inflation at -0.1% over the 12 months to April, with discounting largely responsible for weaker non-food goods.
But its chief executive, Helen Dickinson, said retailers were “unable to absorb” the surge in costs they were facing.
“The days of shop price deflation look numbered,” she said, as food inflation rose to its highest in 11 months, and non-food deflation eased significantly.
“Everyday essentials including bread, meat, and fish, all increased prices on the month. This comes in the same month retailers face a mountain of new employment costs in the form of higher employer National Insurance Contributions and increased NLW [national living wage],” she added.
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Five hacks to beat rising bills
While retail sales growth has proved somewhat resilient this year, it is believed big rises to household bills in April – from things like inflation-busting water, energy and council tax bills – will bite and continue to keep a lid on major purchases.
Also pressing on both consumer and business sentiment is Donald Trump’s trade war – threatening further costs and hits to economic growth ahead.
A further BRC survey, also published on Tuesday, showed more than half of human resources directors expect to reduce hiring due to the government’s planned Employment Rights Bill.
The bill, which proposes protections for millions of workers including guaranteed minimum hours, greater hurdles for sacking new staff and increased sick pay, is currently being debated in parliament.
The BRC said one of the biggest concerns was that guaranteed minimum hours rules would hit part-time roles.
On the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, factory workers at Dony Garment have been working overtime for weeks.
Ever since Donald Trump announced a whopping 46% trade tariff on Vietnam, they’ve been preparing for the worst.
They’re rushing through orders to clients in three separate states in America.
Sewing machines buzz with the sound of frantic efforts to do whatever they can before Mr Trump’s big decision day. He may have put his “Liberation Day” tariffs on pause for 90 days, but no one in this factory is taking anything for granted.
Image: Staff have been working overtime
Workers like Do Thi Anh are feeling the pressure.
“I have two children to raise. If the tariffs are too high, the US will buy fewer things. I’ll earn less money and I won’t be able to support my children either. Luckily here our boss has a good vision,” she tells me.
Image: Do Thi Anh
That vision was crafted back in 2021. When COVID struck, they started to look at diversifying their market.
Previously they used to export 40% of their garments to America. Now it’s closer to 20%.
The cheery-looking owner of the firm, Pham Quang Anh, tells me with a resilient smile: “We see it as dangerous to depend on one or two markets. So, we had to lose profit and spend on marketing for other markets.”
Image: You asked, we listened, the Trump 100 podcast is continuing every weekday at 6am
That foresight could pay off in the months to come. But others are in a far more vulnerable state.
Some of Mr Pham’s colleagues in the industry export all their garments to America. If the 46% tariff is enforced, it could destroy their businesses.
Down by the Saigon River, young couples watch on as sunset falls between the glimmering skyscrapers that stand as a testament to Vietnam’s miracle growth.
Image: Cuong works in finance
Cuong, an affluent-looking man who works in finance, questions the logic and likelihood that America will start making what Vietnam has spent years developing the labour, skills and supply chains to reliably deliver.
“The United States’ GDP is so high. It’s the largest in the world right now. What’s the point in trying to get jobs from developing countries like Vietnam and other Asian nations? It’s unnecessary,” he tells me.
But the Trump administration claims China is using Vietnam to illegally circumvent tariffs, putting “Made in Vietnam” labels on Chinese products.
There’s no easy way to assess that claim. But market watchers believe Vietnam does need to signal its willingness to crack down on so-called “trans-shipments” if it wants to cut a deal with Washington.
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The US may also demand a major cutback in Chinese manufacturing in Vietnam.
That will be a much harder deal to strike. Vietnam can’t afford to alienate its big brother.
Image: Luke Treloar, head of strategy at KPMG in Vietnam
Luke Treloar, head of strategy at KPMG in Vietnam, is however cautiously optimistic.
“If Vietnam goes into these trade talks saying we will be a reliable manufacturer of the core products you need and the core products America wants to sell, the outcome could be good,” he says.
But the key question is just how much influence China will have on Vietnamese negotiators.
Anything above 10-20% tariffs would be intensively challenging
This moment is a huge test of Vietnam’s resilience.
Anything like 46% tariffs would be ruinous. Analysts say 10-20% would be survivable. Anything above, intensely challenging.
But this looming threat is also an opportunity for Vietnam to negotiate and grow. Not, though, without some very testing concessions.
Trade talks between the UK and the United States are “moving in a very positive way”, according to the White House.
President Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke about the likelihood of the long-discussed agreement during a press briefing.
In Westminster, there are hopes such a deal could soften the impact of the Trump tariffs announced last month.
Leavitt told reporters: “As for the trade talks, I understand they are moving in a very positive way with the UK.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the president or our trade team in how those negotiations are going, but I have heard they have been very positive and productive with the UK.”
She said Mr Trump always “speaks incredibly highly” of the UK.
“He has a good relationship with your prime minister, though they disagree on domestic policy issues,” she added.
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“I have witnessed the camaraderie between them first hand in the Oval Office, and there is a deep mutual respect between our two countries that certainly the president upholds.”
Image: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was positive about a deal. Pic: AP
He was careful to not get ahead of developments, however, saying: “I think an agreement is possible – I don’t think it’s certain, and I don’t want to say it’s certain, but I think it’s possible.”
He went on to say the government wanted an “agreement in the UK’s interests” and not a “hasty deal”, amid fears from critics that Number 10 could acquiesce a deal that lowers food standards, for example, or changes certain taxes in a bid to persuade Donald Trump to lower some of the tariffs that have been placed on British goods.
Mr McFadden’s tone was more cautious than Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ last week.
She had been in the US and, speaking to Sky News business and economics correspondent Gurpreet Narwan, the chancellor said she was “confident” a deal could be done.
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‘We’re confident’, says Reeves
But she sought to play down fears that UK standards could be watered down, both on food and online safety.
“On food standards, we’ve always been really clear that we’re not going to be watering down standards in the UK and similarly, we’ve just passed the Online Safety Act and the safety, particularly of our children, is non-negotiable for the British government,” Ms Reeves said.