Post Office: Governments of last 20 years should ‘regret’ Horizon scandal, says David Cameron

Lord Cameron has expressed remorse over the Post Office scandal after revelations emerged suggesting his authorities knew about an axed probe which will have cleared sub-postmasters.

The overseas secretary stated anybody who had been in authorities over the last 20 years, should “regret what’s happened”.

It comes after Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer urged the federal government to disclose what it knew concerning the investigation.

The prime minister stated the federal government had arrange a statutory inquiry.

Speaking to the BBC throughout a go to to Brazil for a G20 assembly, Lord Cameron described “the appalling way” submit workplace department managers had been handled.

“I’ve stated very clearly already many occasions, I believe anybody who has been in authorities for the last 15, 20 years or maybe extra, should deeply remorse what’s occurred.

“That’s why it is so essential now we have the general public inquiry, we get to the underside of what’s occurred, and crucially we get that compensation cash out to the individuals who’ve suffered,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Labour chief known as on the federal government to offer transparency over whether or not they knew concerning the investigation.

“What did government ministers know about it at the time?” the chief of the opposition requested.

The questions got here after the BBC found that David Cameron’s authorities knew in 2016 that an investigation into the flawed Horizon IT system had been cancelled.

Between 1999 and 2015, lots of of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses have been wrongly prosecuted after faults with laptop software program made it appear like cash was lacking from their branches.

If the investigation into the system had proven that Horizon data could possibly be altered remotely, it might have helped sub-postmasters show their innocence a lot earlier.

But data seen by the BBC present that the minister accountable for the Post Office on the time, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, was advised it should be cancelled on authorized recommendation when a bunch of sub-postmasters launched authorized motion.

Mr Cameron was prime minister on the time, although there is no such thing as a proof in emails seen by the BBC that he knew concerning the investigation, or had data the probe had been ditched.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe has advised the BBC she had stated publicly that she had instructed the Post Office chairman to fee an impartial assessment, however declined to remark additional whereas the inquiry into the scandal was ongoing.

At Prime Ministers’ Questions, Labour chief Sir Keir requested Mr Sunak: “Had that investigation revealed that [Horizon records] could possibly be altered, which we now know to be the case, the livelihoods of these wrongly prosecuted might have been saved.

“What did government ministers know about it at the time?”

The prime minister responded saying Sir Keir “had picked one particular date but this scandal has unfolded over decades” and “it was truly after a landmark 2019 High Court case that the earlier [Conservative] authorities established a statutory inquiry, led by Sir Wyn Williams, which is uncovering precisely what went incorrect.

“It is true that that inquiry is allowed to do its work,” he stated.

Mr Sunak added that following the High Court case the federal government “established an impartial advisory board, established not one however three completely different compensation schemes, and as of now over two-thirds of folks have obtained full and ultimate gives, as a result of what we’re centered on is ensuring that the victims get the justice and the compensation that they deserve”.

Mr Starmer requested whether or not the prime minister had thought of asking Lord Cameron, who’s now overseas secretary, and Baroness Neville-Rolfe who’s now a Cabinet Office minister, what they knew in 2016.

Mr Sunak replied: “No – now we have accomplished the precise factor which is to arrange an impartial statutory inquiry.”

The former sub-Postmaster Alan Bates who led the marketing campaign which resulted in that 2019 High Court victory has criticised the federal government for the sluggish tempo of paying out compensation. On 11 February he advised the BBC it had develop into “tied up in a bureaucratic nightmare”.

A row has additionally escalated between the federal government and the previous chairman of the Post Office Henry Staunton after he claimed he had been advised by a senior official to delay compensation payouts to victims. The authorities has strongly denied this.

June 2014: Deloitte submits a briefing for the Post Office board on Project Zebra, outlining how Fujitsu can alter department accounts or change data of transactions remotely.

10 September 2015: Business Secretary Sajid Javid approves a letter from Post Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe to Post Office chair Tim Parker, urging him to take “any crucial motion” about Horizon, after a Panorama whistleblower reveals how Fujitsu can remotely alter postmaster’s accounts.

21 June 2016: In a letter, Mr Parker tells Baroness Neville-Rolfe that within the gentle of the sub-postmasters’ group authorized motion, on “very robust recommendation from main counsel”, the investigation by Deloitte has been instantly stopped. It by no means completes its work.