Post Office scandal - live: Rishi Sunak announces new law to quash convictions of Horizon victims

Rishi Sunak has announced new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers after one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

The prime minister also said there would be a new upfront payment of £75,000 for some of those affected.

Mr Sunak said a new law would be introduced so people wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal are “swiftly exonerated and compensated’’.

He told the Commons: “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.”

Another 130 people affected by the scandal have now come forward since a new TV programme dramatising the miscarriage of justice aired, postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) would normally look at individual convictions and send them to the Court of Appeal. But only 93 of at least 700 convictions have been overturned to date.

See below how our coverage unfolded:

Key Points

  • Sunak confirms new law quash convictions of Horizon scandal victims

  • Around 130 Post Office victims have come forward since ITV drama

  • Post Office chief executive did ‘right thing’ in handing back CBE, says minister

  • Sunak urged to suspend Fujitsu contracts after IT giant won billions despite Post Office scandal

  • What is the Post Office scandal and has anyone been held accountable?

Government will announce ‘solution’ to Post Office scandal imminently, says minister

08:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said Rishi Sunak’s government believes it has a “solution” to the Horizon scandal convictions and an announcement is “imminent”.

“An announcement is imminent. We believe we have a solution,” Mr Hollinrake told Sky News on Wednesday.

However, the minister refused to “speculate” as to whether an announcement might come as soon as Wednesday afternoon as he said a decision “has not been finalised”.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk revealed on Tuesday that Mr Sunak is “actively considering” an emergency bill to quash all 800 Horizon scandal convictions at once.

No 10 said the judiciary had not challenged the government’s proposal to overturn the convictions, after crunch meetings were held on Tuesday – and suggested that a legislative plan would be announced in the coming days.

 (PA Media)
(PA Media)

Around 130 Post Office victims have come forward since ITV drama

08:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Some 130 people affected by the Horizon scandal have come forward since a new TV programme dramatising the miscarriage of justice aired, the postal services minister has said.

Kevin Hollinrake told Sky News: “I think 130 people have come forward to one of the key solicitors in this ... so it’s good that people are coming forward .

”The minister urged anyone affected to make themselves known to the compensation scheme itself or the government – promising processes would be “quick”.

Post Office chief executive did ‘right thing’ in handing back CBE, says minister

08:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has done the “right thing” by handing back her CBE.

He refused to be drawn on whether she should return her bonuses from the role, telling Times Radio that he did not agree with “trial by media”.

However, Mr Hollinrake said it was “certainly possible” that some individuals are guilty of criminal offences and that action should be taken where there is evidence of that.

Andy Furey of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said it would “only be right” for her to return any bonuses she received from the Post Office – believed to amount to around £2.2m.

The union leader has also said that the relevant authorities must give “serious consideration” to bringing criminal proceedings against her.

Powers in place to ensure witnesses appear before the statuory inquiry, Hollinrake says

08:14 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said there are powers in place to make sure witnesses appear before the statutory inquiry into the Horizon scandal.

It comes after the Telegraph reported that an engineer understood to be connected to the development of the faulty software involved is demanding immunity for their testimony.

“That’s absolutely the wrong approach for that person to take if those reports are true,” the minister told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

He added: “The statutory inquiry does have the power to make sure that witnesses do give evidece, but clearly our crime agencies and police definitely have that power.”

 (PA Wire)
(PA Wire)

The Post Office scandal: What is it and has anyone been held accountable?

08:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The wrongful convictions of hundreds of subpostmasters due to faulty digital accounting software has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.

The scandal has recently come back into the spotlight following ITV’s four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

– What is Horizon?

The Horizon IT system is accounting software, owned by Japanese company Fujitsu, which saw accounts automated after subpostmasters entered their sales figures via a touchscreen.

The Post Office scandal: What is it and has anyone been held accountable?

Sunak urged to suspend Fujitsu contracts after IT giant won billions despite Post Office scandal

08:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak is facing calls to suspend new public contracts with Fujitsu, after it emerged that the IT giant has won billions in deals with the government despite knowing about its involvement in the Horizon scandal.

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the government believes it has a “solution” to overturn the wrongful convictions of Post Office staff – promising an “imminent” announcement.

It comes as the spotlight turns on the company at the centre of the scandal, after Fujitsu’s faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers.

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest reports:

Sunak urged to suspend Fujitsu contracts over Post Office IT scandal

Government was considering law to quash convictions before ITV drama, says minister

09:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake has said the government is “definitely not ruling out” emergency legislation to quash all the convictions that arose during the Horizon scandal.

“We are definitely not ruling that out, but I can’t confirm that is the solution we will adopt right now,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

And he insisted that the government had been considering such an approach before the ITV drama thrust the issue back into the spotlight.

Asked whether there is evidence of that, Mr Hollinrake said: “It’s not something we’d put in public – the kind of deliberations we have in government about different options – and clearly this is not an option where the postal affairs minister can make a decision on his own.”

He added that if legislation was brought forward to overturn convictions “en bloc” it could be seen to be “interfering with the independent courts process”.

09:19 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Government considering mass pardons to clear names of subpostmasters, minister says

Tories accused of criticising Davey over Horizon scandal due to Lib Dem advances

09:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has come under attack from Conservatives over the Horizon scandal because of the “advances he is making in the blue wall”, his party’s leader in Scotland has said.

Sir Ed served as postal affairs minister while in coalition government between 2010 and 2012 and has been accused of having “fobbed off” sub-postmasters impacted by the Horizon scandal.

On Wednesday, current postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake told Times Radio that 980 people had been convicted following a fault in the Fujitsu-made IT system.

Tories accused of criticising Davey over Horizon scandal due to Lib Dem advances

Number of Post Office staff calling lawyers ‘rises by the day’

10:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Solicitor Neil Hudgill told that BBC that he has now received more than 100 of new calls from Post Office sub-postmasters caught up in the Horizon scandal since the ITV drama.

He said he was “inundated” with calls. “It’s a number that rises by the day,” Mr Hudgill said – explaining many were from sons and daughters for former subpostmasters who had died.

Ministers will announce plan to quash convictions today

10:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak’s government will announce its solution to quash wrongful Post Office convictions today, The Independent understands.

A source close to the discussions said ministers were ready to reveal their plan for overturning a large number convictions.

They said ministers were confident it would “quickly” deal with the currently sluggish appeals process.

But it is not clear whether they will opt for an emergency law, or make changes to the current process so a large number of appeals can be heard at once.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) would normally look at the individual convictions and send them to the Court of Appeal. But only 93 of at least 700 convictions have been overturned to date.

10:55 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Jailed Post Office scandal victim speaks out: ‘I have lost 21 years of my life’

Minister to be called to Commons to answer urgent question today

11:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A government minister will be called to the Commons to answer an urgent question on the Horizon scandal at around 12.30pm.

Former Cabinet minister David Davis will ask for a statement on “compensation and outstanding matters relating to the Post Office Horizon scandal”.

Tories after Ed Davey because of ‘blue wall’ advances, says senior Lib Dem

11:15 , Adam Forrest

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has come under attack from Conservatives over the Horizon scandal because of the “advances he is making in the blue wall”, his party’s leader in Scotland has said.

Sir Ed served as postal affairs minister while in coalition government between 2010 and 2012 and has been accused of having “fobbed off” sub-postmasters impacted by the Horizon scandal.

Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Sir Ed should not stand down despite increasing pressure from politicians and some who were impacted.

Mr Cole-Hamilton added: “You have to ask why is Ed being attacked? Well, he’s being attacked by the Tories because they’re worried about the advances he’s making in the blue wall.”

 (PA)
(PA)

Victims’ compensation ‘should be paid by August’, says minister

11:30 , Adam Forrest

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake has said the victims of the Horizon scandal that they should receive their compensation payments by August.

The junior minister told LBC that all outstanding payments should be made by August but admitted that “not all these things are within our gift”.

11:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Post Office scandal victims confront minister in heated exchange: ‘It’s a cop-out’

11:53 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Live: Sunak faces Starmer in first PMQs of the year as Post Office convictions set to be quashed

12:01 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak has stood in the Commons as PMQs begin. Stay tuned as we keep you updated.

12:03 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak said the post office scandal is “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in this nation’s history” at PMQs today.

He added: “We will make sure the truth comes to light. We right the wrongs of the past.”

12:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Speaking of the Post Office scandal, Sir Keir Starmer said: “People lost their lives, their liberty and their livelihood” as he paid tribute to the victims of the scandal.

The Labour leader then swiftly moved on to questioning the PM about the Rwanda scheme.

“£400m of taxpayer money down the drain. [...] It’s hardly a surprise he tried to scrap the scheme we he sneaked in as Tory leader.”

Sunak confirms new law quash convictions of Horizon scandal victims

12:08 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said a new law would be introduced so people wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal are “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.

12:11 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

12:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

 (Prime Minister)
(Prime Minister)

Rishi Sunak announces new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers

12:14 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak has announced new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers after one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

The prime minister also said there would be a new upfront payment of £75,000 for some of those affected.

Mr Sunak said a new law would be introduced so people wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal are “swiftly exonerated and compensated’’.

Rishi Sunak announces new law to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office managers

12:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak claimed reports he once did not agree with the Rwanda plan were “second hand” information, as he insisted the Government would deliver on its promise.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Back in 2022 when Boris Johnson claimed he would send asylum seekers to Rwanda, one ambitious Tory MP had reservations.

“He agreed with Labour that it wouldn’t work. It was a waste of money, it was the latest in a long line of gimmicks. Does the Prime Minister know what happened to that MP?”

The Prime Minister replied: “What he refers to is a document that he hasn’t seen, I haven’t seen, and has been reported second hand in a bunch of media newspapers.

“But what I can tell him is I am absolutely clear that you do need to stop the boats and that is what this Government and that MP is going to deliver.”

Rishi Sunak ‘doesn’t get Britain’, Keir Starmer says

12:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Sir Keir Starmer has said the country deserves better than a prime minister who “doesn’t get Britain”.

In an attack on the PM, the Labour leader said: “He just doesn’t get it, he doesn’t get what a cost of living crisis feels like, he doesn’t know any schools where kids no longer turn up and he doesn’t understand what it’s like to wait for a hospital appointment.”

He added: “Doesn’t the country deserve so much better than a prime minister who simply doesn’t get Britain?”

Mr Sunak hit back at Sir Keir for making a lengthy speech last week which he said “did not contain a single new idea”.

And in a message to voters the PM said the choice was “crystal clear”, they can “stick with us to deliver long term change… or go back to square one with Labour”.

 (PA)
(PA)

PM ‘caught red handed’ - Starmer

12:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak has been “caught red handed opposing the very thing that he has now made his flagship policy”, Sir Keir Starmer said.

The Labour leader told the Commons: “I notice he didn’t deny it. I am not surprised, £400 million of taxpayers money down the drain, no one sent to Rwanda, small boats still coming. It is hardly a surprise he wanted to scrap the scheme when he was trying to sneak in as Tory leader.

“But he has been caught red handed opposing the very thing that he has now made his flagship policy. Which member should we listen to, the one before us today or the one who used to believe in something?”

The prime minister replied: “I have always been crystal clear you do need to have an effective deterrence to finally solve this problem, in fact the National Crime Agency agree that you need in their words an effective removals and deterrence agreement and that is why after becoming Prime Minister I negotiated a new deal with Albania, thanks to which we have seen a 93% drop in illegal arrivals from Albania.”

After listing similar schemes by other nations, Mr Sunak added: “He is the only one opposed to a proper deterrent, not because it doesn’t work but because he doesn’t actually believe in controlling migration.

Starmer accuses Sunak of not believing in the ‘Rwanda gimmick'

12:22 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of not believing in the “Rwanda gimmick”.

Speaking in the Commons, Sir Keir said: “We should smash the gangs, process the claims and end hotel use, that’s our plan, unlike the prime minister I believe in it.”

He added: “When he finally finds something he was right about, the Rwanda gimmick, he can’t even take credit for it.”

The Labour leader also branded the prime minister “Mr Nobody”, saying: “Last year he started the year saying he was ‘Mr Steady’, then at his conference he was ‘Mr Change’, now he’s flipped back to ‘Mr More of the same’, it doesn’t matter how many relaunches, flip-flops he does he will always be ‘Mr Nobody’.”

 (PRU/AFP via Getty Images)
(PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

12:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

12:29 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak was asked (and pointedly did not answer) whether he personally met a man named Akhil Tripathi last April before he paid the PM £38,000 for the hire of a private jet.

Sunak has been criticised for the donation before, but has not been asked whether he met him before the donation yet.

The PM’s replied that his meetings “are declared in the normal way”.

“Injustice goes far beyond just the sub-postmasters”, SNP leader warns prime minister

12:35 , Zoe Grunewald

Leader of the Scottish National Party, Stephen Flynn has told the prime minister that the Horizon Scandal, which saw 700 sub-postmasters across the country prosecuted from 1999 to 2015, is not the only unfolding scandal of injustice in the country.

Flynn pointed to a number of ongoing issues, including the WASPI campaign, the Equitable Life scandal, the infected blood scandal, the Grenfell Tower fire and the Hillsborough incident.

He told MPs during PMQs that “when the public come knocking on the doors of this chamber seeking justice, the government only ever answers when they have no options left”, and that the public are “angry” at Westminster because “they know this place never really changes”.

Why Rishi Sunak's 'back to square one with Labour' isn't quite the attack he thinks

12:45 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has come under fire for his latest attack line, warning voters that a Labour government would take them “back to square one”.

Sports journalist Barney Ronay pointed out that the phrase comes from early radio football announcers, when a grid of numbered squares was used to explain where the ball was.

Square one meant a team passing back to their defenders, a tactic often employed by all successful teams in the modern game.

Mr Ronay said the irony was lost on the PM.

Others have pointed out that, with the chaos facing voters at the moment, going back to square one would not be an unwelcome change.

12:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Stephen Flynn noted the involvement of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in Government during the years when the Horizon scandal took place.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “This scandal... has actually unfolded over decades and with multiple people clearly at fault, but since 2019 and the High Court case this Government established a statutory inquiry... to uncover what went wrong, established an independent advisory board and has established three different compensation schemes paying out £150 million to over 2,500 people with now almost two thirds having received final compensation.

“But we must go further and faster, which is why we have made new announcements today.”

The SNP Westminster leader said: “The reality is that subpostmasters never stood a chance against the Westminster establishment, did they?”

13:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Sunak announces new legislation to ‘swiftly exonerate’ Post Office victims

13:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Lindsay Hoyle accidentally calls Keir Starmer ‘prime minister’

13:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Starmer says Tories have ‘lost control’ in heated PMQs clash: ‘Britain is breaking’

Post Office showed ‘incompetence and malevolence’, says minister

14:00 , Jane Dalton

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the public inquiry had already shown that Post Office displayed both “incompetence and malevolence” towards its staff in the Horizon scandal.

He said: “We have seen whole lives ruined by this brutal and arbitrary exercise of power.”

Rishi Sunak said earlier at PMQs that staff were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.

£75k payments show Sunak out of touch, says victim

14:47 , Jane Dalton

Jo Hamilton, who was wrongfully convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds from the village shop she ran in Hampshire, said the £75,000 payments showed Rishi Sunak was “out of touch”.

Replying to the PM on Twitter, formerly X, she said: “You still haven’t paid to GLO group [Group Litigation Order] and the fact that you think throwing £75k at people will help, just shows how completely out of touch you are. Wouldn’t even cover the interest on what has been stolen from them by POL.”

Watch: Post Office showed ‘incompetence and malevolence’, says minister

15:05 , Jane Dalton

Labour denies dog-whistle racism after Starmer claims Sunak doesn’t ‘get Britain’

15:18 , Jane Dalton

Labour has denied that Sir Keir Starmer was attempting dog-whistle racism when he said Rishi Sunak “doesn’t get Britain” at PMQs, writes Adam Forrest.

Mr Sunak’s press secretary responded to the attack by saying: “The prime minister is as British as Starmer.”

And former Tory cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi told the Express: “I flinched when I heard [Sir Keir] trot out the sort of line that I’ve had to deal with all my life.” Mr Zahawi said: “Not only is the prime minister as British as anyone else, those of us who come from immigrant families or who came here and made the UK our homes know exactly what makes Britain great.”

He added: “I thought Labour had moved on from the dark days of Jeremy Corbyn, especially when he said that Jews were incapable of understanding English humour, but it seems to be the same old Labour Party underneath the surface.”

However, Sir Keir’s spokesman insisted the Labour leader had been referring to the PM’s lack of experience of the real economic struggles faced by many Britons today.

The Labour official said it was a reference to “the way in which the prime minister constantly talks as if everything is going brilliantly in this country, and that is simply not the lived experience of hard-working families up and down this country”.

Asked whether it was a dog-whistle to racist voters, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Absolutely not at all. The point Keir was making when he said ‘getting Britain’ is the reality of life facing people.”

HS2 cost has nearly doubled, chairman admits

15:32 , Jane Dalton

Building HS2 between London and Birmingham alone will cost as much as £66.6bn, almost twice the original estimate for the entire project, according to Sir Jon Thompson, the executive chair of HS2 Ltd:

HS2 cost soars to £66.6bn, company boss admits

Government must consider suspending Fujitsu, says ex-minister

16:42 , Jane Dalton

The Government should review all of its contracts with Fujitsu and should consider suspending the company if it “won’t do the right thing”, Conservative former minister Mark Francois has said.

“On Fujitsu, they’re a multi-billion-dollar company with numerous Government contracts, including a number with the Ministry of Defence. They have persistently for years been reluctant to admit the weakness in their system,” he told MPs.

“Does the minister agree they now have a moral duty, if not directly a legal one, to put right that wrong. We should review all their Government contracts and if they won’t do the right thing, which they should, we should consider suspending?”

Business minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “I think it’s right that we let the process take its course, that the inquiry looks at who is responsible for what... who was responsible for this between the Post Office and Fujitsu, who told who to do what.

“And I think it’s only right that we have a process therefore where we do set some criteria, some parameters about who can access Government contracts.

“So those are conversations we should have when we’ve identified exactly who is responsible. We won’t be able to do that for some months yet but we’re keen to do it as soon as we possibly can.”

Ex-Post Office chief ‘refused to meet minister without her lawyer'

16:55 , Jane Dalton

A Conservative former minister claimed ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells refused to meet him while he was in Government without her lawyer present.

George Freeman, a former business minister, told the Commons how when he was covering for an absent minister, he asked to meet Ms Vennells. “I was told she would refuse to meet me without her lawyer,” he said.

He urged the Government to look at recovering money from the Post Office, as well as learning “wider lessons from this appalling scandal”.

Mr Freeman added: “I want to highlight that this saga raises some very important issues about scrutiny, accountability, responsibility in our public office and in public administration, difficult questions that this House must tackle.”

Paula Vennells (PA)
Paula Vennells (PA)

Sunak and Starmer agree Alan Bates should be knighted

17:12 , Jane Dalton

Demands for Alan Bates to receive a knighthood for his decades-long fight for justice for subpostmasters hit by the Horizon scandal has received backing from Downing Street.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokeswoman said it would be “common sense” to honour the crusading former subpostmaster after a mass quashing of convictions was announced.

It was reported last week that Mr Bates refused an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held the CBE she received. But MPs and campaigners have called for Mr Bates’s honour to be re-submitted now that Ms Vennells has agreed to relinquish hers in the face of a public outcry.

Senior minister Esther McVey said she wanted Mr Bates to be knighted “as soon as possible”.

“Anybody can nominate him and I’m quite sure we will see Sir Alan as soon as possible,” the Tory MP told GB News.

The Prime Minister’s press secretary argued that it was “hard to think of someone more deserving of being rewarded through the honours system than him”.

Asked if she agreed about the knighthood with Ms McVey, who is nicknamed the “minister for common sense”, the official said: “That sounds like common sense to me.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is also backing the move. His spokesman said: “I think Alan Bates clearly has emerged as a hero.”

 (BBC Breakfast)
(BBC Breakfast)

In full: Sunak confirms new law to exonerate wrongly convicted subpostmasters

17:30 , Jane Dalton

All the details of today’s announcement in full:

Sunak confirms wrongly convicted subpostmasters to be exonerated

Tory rebels launch plan to ‘toughen’ Rwanda bill

17:50 , Jane Dalton

Rishi Sunak is braced for a Commons showdown over his Rwanda plan after being warned by Tory MPs that the proposal will not work unless it is significantly beefed up. As the right wing of the Conservative Party gears up for a parliamentary battle, the Prime Minister was warned by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick that the plan “simply doesn’t work” in its current form:

Right-wing Tory rebels launch plan to ‘toughen’ Rwanda bill

Force Post Office to say how much money it took, says ex-postmaster MP

18:12 , Jane Dalton

The Post Office should be forced to reveal how much money it “stole” from innocent people during the Horizon scandal, according to a former subpostmaster.

Conservative MP Duncan Baker, who worked in the role in Norfolk before being elected in 2019, said the sum was expected to total hundreds of millions of pounds although no figure has ever been provided.

Mr Baker (North Norfolk) told the Commons: “One question that has never been answered is just how much money was taken unlawfully from thousands of innocent men and women.

“The Post Office took that money, we have never known that figure.

“Even the most basic accountant knows that it will run into hundreds of millions of pounds. So could the minister find out from the Post Office - force them to publish - just the grand scale of how much money they stole from people?”

Business minister Kevin Hollinrake replied: “The money was taken, somebody must have noticed that money - you’d think the finance department would have noticed that money, you’d think auditors would have noticed that money.”

He added: “I will endeavour to find out the number. I don’t have a number.”

Kevin Hollinrake, surrounded by Brexit protesters (PA)
Kevin Hollinrake, surrounded by Brexit protesters (PA)

Watch again: Taylor Swift tickets easier to get than NHS dental appointments, ministers told

18:30 , Jane Dalton

Taylor Swift tickets ‘easier to get’ than NHS dental appointments, ministers told

Letting ex-PO chief stay in Cabinet Office job was mistake, minister admits

19:02 , Jane Dalton

Many would see Paula Vennells remaining as a Cabinet Office director as a mistake, business minister Kevin Hollinrake said.

Mr Hollinrake told the Commons: “I think it was right and proper that the former CEO Paula Vennells handed back her CBE.

“It clearly was prior to my time in Government, but she raises some interesting points, I don’t know the answer to her question. I think with hindsight many people would see that as a mistake, but very happy to take that away.”

19:05 , Jane Dalton

We are putting our coverage of politics and the Post Office scandal on hold for tonight. Please keep up with the rest of our coverage here and here.