‘ PM must reverse outrageous choice’
FIRST Minister Humza Yousaf is demanding Rishi Sunak reverse his government’s “outrageous” decision not to extend legislation to exonerate those wrongly convicted as part of the Post Office Horizon scandal to Scotland.
Mr Yousaf said he was “utterly furious” that Westminster had now agreed the bill – which was originally proposed to cover only England and Wales – was now being extended to cover Northern Ireland, but still would not apply to Horizon victims in Scotland.
Justice secretary Angela Constance said the move represented a “betrayal of Scotland’s Horizon victims”.
Meanwhile the First Minister said: “The unfair treatment of Scottish subpostmasters and subpostmistresses is completely unacceptable.”
He stated the UK Government had now “chosen to extend their legislation to every single part of the United Kingdom except Scotland”.
Mr Yousaf is to write to the Prime Minister on the matter, but he claimed: “It is hard to think that the UK Government are doing anything other than using our Scottish subpostmasters and mistresses as a political pawn.
“That’s outrageous. It’s unacceptable. And I’ll be writing to the Prime Minister in order to ask him to reverse that decision.”
The Scottish Government is to bring forward its own legislation to exonerate subpostmasters who were wrongly convicted because of the faulty Horizon software, but Holyrood ministers have insisted it would be simpler if the UK Government’s legislation could instead be expanded to also cover Scotland.
Ms Constance raised the matter in a meeting with Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake last month.
It comes after around 100 Post Office subpostmasters in Scotland were amongst those con- victed after being wrongly accused of embezzling money.
However, in a letter to the
Scottish justice secretary,
Mr Hollinrake stressed the
UK Government’s position on extending the Post Office ( Horizon System)
Offences Bill was “unchanged”.
Mr Hollinrake said the
UK Government was extending the remit of the legislation because of the
“significant and unique challenges” the recently restored administration i n
Northern Ireland would face in bringing forward its own bill at an “expedited pace”.
He added that without action from Westminster there was a “risk of significant delay to justice for postmasters in Northern Ireland”, adding this would result in a “lack of parity with others affected across the UK”.
Mr Hollinrake confirmed: “We have therefore concluded that the bill should be amended to quash convictions in Northern Ireland in light of these unique circumstances.”
However, he said Scotland was a “historically separate legal jurisdiction”, noting prosecutions had not been carried out by the Post Office, but by the Lord Advocate, the most senior prosecutor in Scotland.
The Post Office minister made clear: “It remains the UK Government’s view that it is more appropriate for the Scottish Government to bring forward proposals to address prosecutions on this matter in Scotland, and for these to be scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament.”
While the minister insisted the UK Government would “continue to support” the Scottish Government in developing its own legislation, his letter prompted an angry response from Ms Constance.
She said: “We fully support the extension of this bill to cover Northern Ireland, but it is outrageous that the UK Government has declined to also include Scotland.”
She added: “This ignoring of Scotland is typical of Westminster’s attitude.
“It means that subpostmasters north of the border will be the only victims in the UK not covered by the legislation at Westminster, which is precisely where the miscarriage of justice has its origins and was overseen by successive Tory and Labour governments.
“It is a betrayal of Scotland’s Horizon victims for UK ministers to behave in this manner.”
Ms Constance told how subpostmasters had suffered “one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK legal history”, adding that those affected in Scotland “do not deserve to be subject to Westminster’s petty political point- scoring”.
Noting that amendments have been laid in the Commons which could extend the UK Government’s bill to Scotland, she added: “We still hope that MPs overrule the UK Government and amend the legislation so that it covers Scotland.
“But if that does not happen, Scottish legislation will be introduced.”
However Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Russell Findlay said: “Humza Yousaf ’ s relentless constitutional grievance- stoking on this issue is beyond tiresome.
“The SNP First Minister should stop his posturing and get on with delivering justice for Scottish victims of this scandal.”