New law to be introduced exonerating Post Office scandal victims

The new law will clear wrongly convicted postmasters of any wrongdoing

Speaking at the first Prime Minister's Questions of the year, the PM said he planned to make sure those who were convicted during the scandal would be exonerated through an act of parliament, Sky News reports.

Sunak also announced that those who were part of the group litigation against the Post Office would be eligible for an "upfront payment of £75,000".

The news comes after the airing of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office this month.

The series told the story of the Post Office scandal which saw more than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses prosecuted between 1999 and 2005 for accounting errors that were down to a faulty new computer system, called Horizon.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister said: "Mr Speaker, this is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history.

"People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own.

"The victims must get justice and compensation. Sir Wyn Williams' inquiry is undertaking crucial work to undo, to expose what went wrong, and we've paid almost £150 million in compensation to over 2,500 victims.

"But today I can announce that we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

"We will also introduce a new upfront payment of £75,000 for the vital [Group Litigation Order] group of postmasters."

On Tuesday, Paula Vennells, who was CEO of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, handed back her CBE following increasing pressure from the public.

Related links:

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to hand back CBE

Post Office under criminal investigation for potential fraud over Horizon scandal