At Prime Ministers Questions, Jarrow MP Kate Osborne slammed the Prime Minister for the Tory Government’s lack of action over the Horizon Scandal.
Kate Osborne said:
“The Prime Minister promised a new law to swiftly exonerate and compensate the post office scandal victims – more empty promises when no legislation has been brought forward.
Disrespectful pantomime behaviour from the Prime Minister and his Tory MPs at #PMQs today
Their attempts to shout me down won’t distract from their abject failures and deliberate delaying tactics.
Instead of insulting the Post Office Scandal victims the Prime Minister should be ensuring they get justice.”
During PMQs today Kate Osborne asked:
“Mr Speaker, I heard the Prime Minister’s responses to the Leader of the Opposition and just like the Secretary of State claims that delays on compensation are ‘wild, baseless allegations’, his answers are unbelievable.
“The reality is we wouldn’t have any action without the ITV serialisation of the sub-postmasters scandal – despite many Members raising the issue in this House for years.
“Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister promised a new law to “swiftly exonerate and compensate victims”
So will he commit to ensuring this is brought forward before the next General Election?”
Following her question, Kate Osborne MP slammed the Prime Minister’s response and his exchange with the Leader of the Opposition who referenced Kate’s constituent Chris Head – the youngest subpostmaster in the country when he was wrongly accused of stealing more than £80,000.
“It is clear the Prime Minister and his Government have checked out and are stumbling their way to the next General Election. His pitiful response to my Prime Minister’s Question today shows just that.
“I am truly appalled that they did nothing but jeer whilst Starmer recounted Chris’s words. Chris deserves a lot more respect than that.
“For years, the Government has done nothing but kick the Horizon Scandal into the long grass. They have known about this scandal for decades, yet it has taken an ITV drama to kick them into action. Even now, Sunak and his Ministers are delaying compensation claims to “limp into the next election.”
Sub-postmasters have waited long enough – we need action from Government, not more empty promises”
Notes:
Link to Kate’s tweet and video of her PMQ – https://x.com/KateOsborneMP/status/1760302756940689889?s=20
Video of Kate’s question to the minister from 19th February 2024: https://fb.watch/qkAmmKT7qX/
https://kate-osborne.co.uk/2024/01/10/helping-subpostmasters/
Kate Osborne MP has been a long term campaigner of justice for the sub-postmasters, first asking a question about the scandal only months after her election. It was this question to the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in 2020 that forced an independent inquiry leading to the findings that we now are seeing get national attention