Sir Ed Davey refuses to say sorry 10 times over not taking enough action amid Post Office Horizon scandal
12 January 2024, 18:36
Sir Ed Davey has refused to say sorry 10 times for not taking enough action during the Horizon scandal.
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The Lib Dem leader dodged several calls for an apology over his handling of the scandal as postal affairs minister.
When pressed to "draw a line" under days of avoiding taking responsibility, Sir Ed continued to stop short of explicitly apologising.
He instead said that he "deeply regrets" that he was lied to.
The Horizon scandal saw more than 700 sub-postmasters handed criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
Sir Ed served as postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012 but refused a meeting with postmaster Mr Bates - who inspired the TV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office - about "flaws of the Horizon system".
He insisted that he had received assurances that the system was fine.
"I've said time and time again that I deeply regret that I was lied to on an industrial scale," Sir Ed told ITV.
He added that his "heart goes out to the people that were hit" by the convictions and that he "deeply regrets not getting to the bottom of the lies that were told".
Read more: Post Office made last-gasp bid to change TV drama which fuelled scandal, Mr Bates producer reveals
Should Sir Ed Davey - the former postal minister - be stripped of his knighthood over the Post Office scandal?
But Sir Ed was challenged further over his lack of an apology, with him repeating: "I was lied to on an industrial scale. And, of course, I'm sure every other post office minister who was lied to regrets that they were part of this huge conspiracy that the Post Office perpetrated."
He continued to repeat his stance, saying "postmasters deserve a huge amount".
"They deserve compensation," he said. "They deserve a huge apology from the Post Office, from Fujitsu and from all the people who led this conspiracy of lies against them and frankly the whole British public."
It comes after Sir Ed previously refused to follow former Post Office boss Paula Vennells' lead and return his knighthood in response to backlash over the scandal.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: "Ed's heart goes out to the victims of this terrible miscarriage of justice.
"Like all ministers of all parties over the past two decades, Ed was lied to by the Post Office on an industrial scale.
"It is the Post Office which owes an apology to the victims for their appalling behaviour and the pain and suffering they caused.
"Ed's focus now is on getting justice and compensation as quickly as possible to all those affected."
