Tesco has expressed interest in acquiring more than 100 Crown Post Offices whose future has been placed under review as the state-owned company explores shifting them to a franchise model.

Sky News has learnt that Nigel Railton, the Post Office chairman, told a group of MPs this week that Britain’s biggest retailer had informed it of a potential interest in taking over the sites.

One MP who attended the talks on the future of the directly managed branches said that Mr Railton had given the impression in his remarks that Tesco was among a small number of suitors which could take over the entire 108-strong network.

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The fate of the Crown Post Offices was called into question last autumn as part of a wider strategic review initiated by Mr Railton, who took over as chair of the company following Henry Staunton’s sacking by Kemi Badenoch, the then business secretary.

Collectively, the branches employ close to 1,000 people, with many of those jobs likely to be safeguarded in the event of an acquisition of the whole network by a single retailer.

The meeting between Mr Railton and more than 20 MPs was organised to discuss the future of the directly managed branches, which form a very small part of the wider Post Office network.

Trade union officials have expressed concern about the company’s plans.

Following several enquiries, Tesco eventually responded by saying it would not comment.

A Post Office spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to engaging openly and transparently with MPs regarding any potential plans related to our Directly Managed Branch (DMB) network.

“Since inviting expressions of interest for 108 Post Offices that we currently operate, we have received interest from retail partners and independent postmasters in the hundreds.

“We remain committed to engaging with our trade unions over the potential future ownership of our Directly Managed Branches, which are loss-making for us, into March before updating our colleagues who work in these branches on any potential next steps.”

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The strategic review outlined in November is designed to bolster sub-postmasters’ pay substantially during the coming years.

The loss-making Post Office requires an annual subsidy from the Treasury, with its future called into question as the Horizon IT scandal continues to sow controversy.

Sky News revealed last year that the Department for Business and Trade had drafted in consultants from BCG to explore options for turning the Post Office into a mutual.

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s anti-terror case should have been kept open, a review into his attacks has found.

Following the killings in Southport last summer, a rapid review was launched into Rudakubana’s contact with Prevent – a government strategy aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis repeated that Rudakubana was in contact three times before his attacks at a Taylor Swift dance class where three young girls were murdered.

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He added that the report found Rudakubana should have been referred to Channel, another anti-terror scheme.

Mr Jarvis said: “The review concluded that too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology, to the detriment of considering the perpetrator’s susceptibility, grievances, and complex needs.

“There was an under-exploration of the significance of his repeat referrals and the cumulative risk, including his history of violence.

“There were potentially incomplete lines of inquiry, that at the time the perpetrator could have fallen into a mixed, unclear or unstable category for Channel due to his potential interest in mass violence.

“Indeed, the overall conclusion of the review is that he should have been case-managed through the Channel multi-agency process, rather than closed to Prevent.”

He said the review found Rudakubana’s referral to Prevent was “closed prematurely”, and there was “sufficient concern to keep the case active while further information was collected”.

The review noted Rudakubana was referred to Prevent on three occasions: first in December 2019 when he was 13, again in February 2021 when he was 14, and finally in April 2021.

The first report was due to concerns he was carrying a knife and searching for school shootings online.

The second was for online activity relating to Libya and Colonel Gaddafi, and the third for searching for London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the Channel multi-agency process,” Mr Jarvis said.

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The report highlighted that in the second referral, Rudakubana’s name was spelt differently from the first.

It then says a Prevent supervisor was unable to find the previous referral and “this may have caused the case to be closed quickly on minimal information”.

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As part of the review, 14 recommendations were made on how to improve Prevent, which Mr Jarvis said they had accepted and would be implementing.

Mr Jarvis said the government is working to set up an inquiry into what happened as soon as possible, although confirmed it would not initially be on a statutory footing.