One of the privileges of representing a community like ours in Solihull is that you never forget politics is, at heart, about people. Not systems or processes. People. And this week, that truth came absolutely to the fore as Parliament resumed scrutiny of the Post Office Horizon scandal – the largest miscarriage of justice in British history.
This week, the Business and Trade Committee, which I chair, held its first evidence session of the New Year. The question before us was straightforward: after decades of suffering, delay and denial, when will justice finally be done for sub-postmasters?
For years, ordinary men and women, many running small post offices at the heart of communities, were accused of crimes they did not commit. Faulty Horizon accounting software, supplied by Fujitsu, produced phantom losses and instead of investigating the system, the Post Office prosecuted the people. Livelihoods were destroyed and families were torn apart. Reputations were shattered and some did not live to see their names cleared.
A year on from our Committee’s report on delayed redress, progress has been made but not enough and not fast enough. Victims told us that navigating compensation schemes felt like being put on trial all over again. I’m glad one key recommendation has been implemented: claimants in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme now have access to free, upfront legal advice. That matters. It should never have taken so long.
But thousands are still waiting. Waiting for convictions to be overturned. Waiting for fair compensation. Waiting for accountability.
That is why the Committee’s hearing mattered. For the first time this Parliament, Fujitsu will be questioned directly. This is the company whose system sat at the centre of the scandal; the company that announced a pause on bidding for new government contracts – yet still received £362million of public work last year and continues to run Horizon until at least 2027. Ministers now talk of Fujitsu’s “moral obligation” to contribute to redress. Moral obligations are fine. Legal and financial responsibility is better.
We also heard from the Department for Business and Trade and the Ministry of Justice. Fresh concerns have emerged about how wrongful convictions are being reviewed and how delays and mishandling are once again blocking access to compensation.
The presence of the Criminal Cases Review Commission was crucial. Overturning convictions properly and fairly is not a technicality; it is the gateway to redress, dignity and closure. When that process fails, victims pay the price yet again.
There is now a police investigation into potential corporate manslaughter charges against the Post Office. That underlines the gravity of what happened. This was not a minor administrative failure. It was a systemic collapse of responsibility at the very top.
Our Committee made a promise to sub-postmasters: we will not let this issue drift back into the long grass. Democracy only works when the state admits its failures, enforces accountability and proves that justice applies to the powerful as much as to the powerless.
Justice for the subpostmasters is justice for every community.