Post Office Horizon scandal: Mass exoneration of sub-postmasters ‘right thing to do’ despite concerns over judicial independence, minister says
The UK’s postal services minister says the government is to push ahead with legislation to mass exonerate people wrongly convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal, despite concerns it will interfere with judicial independence.
It comes after Rishi Sunak announced plans on Wednesday for an act of parliament, which will be introduced within weeks, to overturn hundreds of Post Office convictions.
One lawyer said the legislation risked “riding roughshod” over the judiciary’s independence from the government.
Postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake, speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, said the government did “not want to interfere with the court and the judicial process”.
However, he said the Post Office scandal was an “exceptional case” and introducing legislation was the right thing to do.
“We have looked at all the alternatives and they would require a very much longer term, much more in-depth process, case by case, exactly what we’re going through now, which has been so slow,” he said.
“So either we choose that option and it goes on for years, or we do this option, and we can resolve this within a few weeks or months.
“And that’s what we want to do. That’s the situation we want to come to.
“These people have been through so much, not just in terms of financial loss, but reputation loss, damage to relationships and health.
“We want to sweep it all aside, so people can get compensated and be exonerated.”
More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were prosecuted for accounting errors relying on data from the faulty Horizon software.
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‘It’s another sticking plaster’
Once they are exonerated, the government has confirmed victims will be eligible for at least £600,000 compensation, depending on their circumstances.
Terry Wilcox, of Hudgell Solicitors, a firm which represented 74 people who have already had their convictions quashed, welcomed the announcement, but said those impacted were still “very cynical”.
“Obviously we welcome the announcement, but we are very cynical and our clients are very cynical – 20 years of history has led them to be very cynical,” he told Sky News.
“The inquiry has been running for three years and the government has known about this issue for three years yet it’s only now the drama airs, the public have become alarmed and have become aware that the politicians start to act.”
Mr Wilcox criticised the government for not acting until the public outcry following the airing of ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office last week.
Mr Wilcox said the publicity has seen his firm receive 150 enquiries and pick up three new cases of convicted sub-postmasters, one of whom has died.
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He said a blanket quashing of the convictions may not provide his clients with the same degree of vindication as if they were to be investigated by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
He said: “It’s a welcome announcement but obviously the devil is going to be in the detail. What does it mean?
“We have found some of our clients prefer to go through the review precisely because that backs of their view that they are completely innocent.”
Noel Thomas, 77, from Anglesey, a former sub-postmaster who was wrongfully convicted of false accounting in 2006 had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2021.
“We’ve had these assurances before to be honest, and they’ve fallen through,” he told Sky News.
“At the end of the day, it’s this drama that has hit the nail. It’s taken a drama to make people understand what’s been going on.”
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While Mr Wilcox said the announcement would give some people the “strength and courage” to come forward, he raised concerns over the primary legislation which “in theory would be unconstitutional”.
He said the law would need to be extremely well defined and could risk “riding roughshod” over the independence of the judiciary.
“If there’s another pressing case, which is politically sensitive, it might be used for the wrong reasons,” he said.
“That’s the danger – it should just be for postmasters… but once a precedent is set it becomes difficult to put the genie back in the bottle.”
Politics
Shouts of ‘genocide’ in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel’s ‘intolerable’ actions in Gaza
The foreign secretary has denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza as “intolerable” but stopped short of saying it had committed genocide.
MPs could be heard shouting “genocide” in the Commons chamber as David Lammy announced the government was suspending its trade negotiations with Israel and summoning Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, to the Foreign Office.
The UK has also sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank which it says have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians – including Daniella Weiss, a leading settler activist who was the subject of Louis Theroux’s recent documentary The Settlers.
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Israel immediately criticised the UK government actions as “regrettable” and said the free trade agreement talks, which ministers have now backed out of, were “not being advanced at all by the UK government”.
Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, said: “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”
Mr Lammy’s intervention came in response to Israel ramping up its latest military offensive in Gaza and its decision to limit the amount of aid into the enclave.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly” imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians by blocking aid from entering Gaza more than 10 weeks ago.
He also told the UN’s security council last week that it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim that Israel has vehemently denied.
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Aftermath of strike on Gaza school-turned-shelter
Speaking in the Commons, the foreign secretary said the threat of starvation was “hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians” and that the 11-week blockade stopping humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was “indefensible and cruel”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into the besieged enclave in response to global concern at reports of famine.
Mr Lammy said Mr Netanyahu’s govenrment was “isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world”.
“We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict,” Mr Lammy added.
“Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
Referring to one of the far-right ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s government, he said Bezalel Smotrich “even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries”.
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Surgeon compares Gaza to ‘killing fields’
MPs from across the house shouted “genocide” as Mr Lammy said: “We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
In the Commons, a number of Labour MPs urged the government to go further against Israel.
Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South and Walkden, said there needed to be a “full arms embargo” and said: “Can I ask the foreign secretary what additional steps he’s going to be taking in order to stave off this genocide?”
Another Labour MP told Sky News that while the statement was “better than previously…without a concrete timeline and a sanctioning of responsible ministers, it’s hard to know what tangible difference it will make.”
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Israeli officials have said its plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely. – which would move the civilian population southward – will help it achieve its aim of defeating Hamas.
Israel also believes the offensive will prevent Hamas from looting and distributing humanitarian aid, which it says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and reacted angrily to a joint statement penned by the leaders of the UK, France and Canada, in which they urged Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid allowed into the enclave.
The Israeli prime minister said: “By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.
“No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won’t. This is a war of civilisation over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Paul Atkins appeared before lawmakers in one of his first hearings since becoming chair of the financial regulator, addressing questions about his plans for the cryptocurrency industry.
In a May 20 hearing discussing oversight of the SEC, Atkins reiterated his pledge to make regulating digital assets a “key priority” while chair. In response to questions from North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards, the SEC chair did not directly answer how much of the regulator’s funds were used to support the crypto task force headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, and said its findings were “still under development.”
“We should be having something here in the next few months with proposed steps forward,” said Atkins in response to the task force’s first report.
The SEC chair’s appearance at the oversight hearing was one of his first since being sworn into office in April. Nominated by Donald Trump, Atkins, also a former commissioner, was seen by many lawmakers and those in the digital asset industry as someone who could radically change the SEC’s approach to crypto.
Looking to Congress for help with regulatory clarity
Atkins’ remarks came less than 24 hours after US Senators voted to move forward on consideration of a bill to regulate stablecoins, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act. The bill is one of many related to aspects of digital assets that could affect how the SEC regulates the industry alongside agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
“Whatever happens in Congress […] that will help undergird what we do,” said Atkins.
Related: Paul Atkins: ‘Crypto markets have been languishing in SEC limbo’
Since being sworn into office in April, the SEC chair has given opening remarks and overseen the commission’s roundtable events on digital assets. The next event, scheduled for June 9, will have SEC commissioners and industry leaders discuss issues related to decentralized finance.
Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered
Politics
Suspension of trade talks a political signal that Israeli leadership is increasingly isolated
The UK has suspended trade talks with Israel, in protest at what David Lammy called the “intolerable” conditions in Gaza, which he said would leave the population at risk of starvation.
This is, the foreign office confirms, a UK first, in suspending trade talks for a political or humanitarian reason. The Israeli ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, will be summoned to the Foreign Office to deliver the message.
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This suspension, with immediate effect, is a political signal that the Israeli leadership is increasingly isolated even among its allies; and intended to ratchet up the pressure to let aid in.
It comes with a step change in the UK’s language on the humanitarian situation.
Keir Starmer on Monday night, in his joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said there would be “concrete steps” if food and medicine continued to be held up at borders; and this is one of the levers available.
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Doctors in Gaza plead for help
David Lammy, announcing the move and targeted sanctions against West Bank settlers linked to violence, called it a “dark phase” in the conflict and said: “[Benjamin] Netanyahu’s actions have made this necessary.”
Trade talks were launched under Rishi Sunak’s government, and a 2030 Roadmap was agreed for boosting trade.
Gaza live: UK halts trade talks with Israel
But although the Labour government committed to continuing with it, the last round of talks was held more than a year ago.
Israel has, the UN say, not allowed trucks in for 11 weeks, after saying Hamas steal the aid intended for civilians. Some trucks entered on Tuesday, but aid agencies say it is nowhere near enough.
With the collapse of the latest talks between the two sides in Qatar last week, the ceasefire the UK is calling for looks far off.
Using economic measures to force the aid issue is likely to be a signal to other allies, including the European Union, to take similar steps.
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