Hundreds of post office operators are to have their convictions quashed by parliament within months in an unprecedented move designed to draw a line under one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.
Senior lawyers said, however, that the decision to pass a bill overturning so many court verdicts was constitutionally extraordinary and risked undermining the independence of the judiciary if it was seen as a precedent for future cases.
Announcing the move, less than a week after the broadcast of an ITV drama that catapulted the long-running saga into the political mainstream, Rishi Sunak told the Commons that the legislation would acquit all those convicted in the Horizon IT scandal.
Anyone who has their conviction overturned will be given an upfront offer of £600,000 or allowed to proceed with a detailed assessment process if they feel they are owed more. Those who are part of a separate group litigation, who have already received some money, will be offered £75,000 each.
Setting out details of the plan to MPs, the business minister responsible for postal affairs, Kevin Hollinrake, conceded that the blanket approach could mean some people fraudulently receiving compensation but that the risk was worth it to end the long wait.
“This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history,” Sunak said during prime minister’s questions. “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.”
He added: “We will make sure that the truth comes to light, we right the wrongs of the past and the victims get the justice they deserve.”
The plan won immediate backing from Labour, meaning it will pass parliament without hindrance. However, legal organisations said ministers should give assurances to parliament, and within the bill, that this was a one-off.
David McNeill from the Law Society said: “Are we feeling queasy about it? Are we looking down with a sort of queasy sense of vertigo? Yes, we are. It breaches a fundamental principle which is effectively the government legislating against decisions, against the independence of the courts. These are exceptional circumstances, it is an extraordinary measure. It must not, must never, be seen as a precedent.”
Sam Townend KC, the chair of the Bar Council, said: “We will examine the proposals carefully. Anxious care should be taken as to ensuring the independence of the judiciary and the government must be careful about setting legal and constitutional precedent.”
Downing Street said: “We don’t take this step lightly and have consulted with the judiciary.”
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday evening, Hollinrake accepted that the pace of the response had been sped along by the ITV drama Mr. Bates vs the Post Office, broadcast in four parts last week, which told the story of Alan Bates, the post office operator who led the campaign against the injustice.
“Of course, we respond to public pressure. That’s what we’re here for,” Hollinrake said. “This is government. Things go on the ‘too difficult’ pile. There’s lots of different stakeholders involved in government.”
While the plan will swiftly clear and compensate the more than 900 people prosecuted by the Post Office after being wrongly accused of taking money between 1999 and 2015, a parallel political row is still raging over responsibility for the affair.
Sunak’s announcement of the plan was made in response to a seemingly planted question from Lee Anderson, the Tory party deputy chair, who called for Ed Davey, who was minister responsible for postal affairs from 2010 to 2012, to quit as Liberal Democrat leader.
However, attention has also fallen on the Conservatives’ links to Fujitsu, which provided the faulty Horizon accounting software, on which the convictions were based.
