All of Manchester and the country have been horrified at the lies and injustices perpetrated by the Post Office against 900 postmasters.

At the height of the scandal from 2010 to 2012 the Postal Affairs Minister was Sir Ed Davey.  The record shows that he refused to meet with postmaster Alan Bates who led the campaign for justice.

The City Council calls on Ed Davey::-

·            To apologise to Mr. Bates;

·            To apologise to the 900 postmasters whose lives were shattered by the lies and criminal harassment of the Post Office.

Proposed by Councillor Karney, seconded by Councillor Hilal and supported by Councillors I Robinson, Richards, Curley, Flanagan, Rahman and Hitchen.

Councillor Karney proposed the following motion, which was seconded by Councillor Hilal: -

All of Manchester and the country have been horrified at the lies and injustices perpetrated by the Post Office against 900 postmasters.

At the height of the scandal from 2010 – 2012 the Postal Affairs Minister was Sir Ed Davey. The record shows that he refused to meet with postmaster Alan Bates who let the campaign for justice.

The City Council calls on Ed Davey:

I)             To apologise to Mr. Bates

II)            To apologise to the 900 postmasters whose lives were shattered by the lies and criminal harassment of the Post Office

Councillor Leech moved an amendment to the motion, which was seconded by Councillor Good, as follows: -

All of Manchester and the country have been horrified at the lies and injustices perpetrated by the Post Office against 900 postmasters.

From the year 2000, hundreds of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses across the country were wrongly convicted, because of faults with the Post Office’s Horizon IT system that it covered up for years. The truth was finally uncovered in 2019, thanks to the sub-postmasters’ High Court battle and crucial evidence from a whistleblower.

Council recognises that successive Labour, Coalition and Conservative Governments failed to take the necessary action to uncover the scandal, and condemns the Post Office for lying to Ministers during the Labour Governments between 1997 and 2010, the Coalition Government from 2010-2015 and the subsequent Conservative Governments after 2015.

Council further condemns those politicians and sections of the media who have attempted to smear individual politicians for party political gain, rather than seeking justice for the sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses and the prosecution of those who are responsible for innocent sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses being wrongly convicted, and having their lives ruined by this scandal.

Council notes the comments of well-respected BBC investigative journalist John Sweeney who said on X, formerly Twitter, "Our BBC Panorama Trouble At The Post Office in August 20I5 had a Fujitsu whistleblower who said Horizon computer generated errors. This was the first time outsiders knew for a fact the Post Office was lying. So it is unfair to criticise Keir Starmer and Ed Davey who were out of the picture in August 2015. By then the Conservatives were in charge. And they gave Paula Vennels a gong."

Council further notes the role of Fujitsu in the Post Office scandal, whose faulty Horizon accounting software was used to convict hundreds of innocent people, and Fujitsu Europe's boss, Paul Patterson has admitted that Fujitsu has a "moral obligation" to contribute to compensation for those who were wrongly prosecuted as a result of its faulty IT software.

Council notes with concern that an "exploratory agreement" with Fujitsu was signed last month by Council Leader Bev Craig, and Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, even though the inquiry is ongoing and no compensation has yet been paid out.

Council therefore calls on the Government:-

1.         To ensure that any Post Office or Fujitsu staff found to have lied about the problems with the Horizon software be prosecuted.

2.         To ensure that the compensation scheme is fast-tracked and includes punitive costs against the Post Office and Fujitsu.

Council also requests that the Leader of the Council brings forward an urgent report to the Executive, setting out the nature of the "exploratory agreement" with Fujitsu, with a guarantee that no deal can be signed with Fujitsu before full compensation has been paid out and any appropriate prosecutions pursued.

The amendment was put to the Council and on voting, the Lord Mayor declared that it was lost.

A further amendment was moved by Councillor Johnson and Councillor Nunney, as follows: -

All of Manchester and the country have been horrified at the lies and injustices perpetrated by Fujitsu and the Post Office against 900 the sub-postmasters.

Between 1999-2015, over 900 sub-postmasters were convicted of theft, fraud, and false accounting, with most of these prosecutions carried out by the Post Office. Alan Bates led the campaign for justice. 

This scandal revealed the mendacity and opportunism by the Post Office, their failure in corporate governance, judicial and court failure as well as legislative failure. Consecutive Postal Affairs Ministers during this period are part of this failure.  

The City Council calls on those Postal Affairs Ministers: -

·         To apologise to Mr. Bates;

·         To apologise to the sub-postmasters whose lives were shattered by the lies and criminal harassment of the Post Office.

The City Council also calls on the Government:

·         To quickly and adequately allocate compensation to the victims of the scandal; 

·         To hold the Post Office and Fujitsu to account.

The amendment was put to the Council and on voting, the Lord Mayor declared that it was lost.

The motion was put to the Council as the substantive motion and the Lord Mayor declared it was carried.

Resolution

The City Council calls on Ed Davey:

I)             To apologise to Mr. Bates.

II)            To apologise to the 900 postmasters whose lives were shattered by the lies and criminal harassment of the Post Office.