Rishi Sunak gathers Cabinet to hammer out plan to clear Post Office scandal victims – as ministers hold talks with judges and warn Fujitsu it could face huge compensation bill

Rishi Sunak is gathering Cabinet today as ministers scramble to find a way to clear Post Office scandal victims.

The PM and his team are urgently hunting for ways to fast-track the process which has so far seen just 93 of more than 700 postmasters able to clear their names in the courts.

Options being considered include a change in the law to allow the huge backlog of cases to be considered ‘en masse’ rather than individually. 

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is holding talks with senior judges later, with a plan being promised within days.

In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride delivered a stark warning to Fujitsu that the IT firm behind the flawed Horizon software could face a compensation bill if a public inquiry finds it was culpable.

Rishi Sunak is gathering Cabinet today as ministers scramble to find a way to clear Post Office scandal victims

In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride delivered a stark warning to Fujitsu that the IT firm behind the flawed Horizon software could face a compensation bill if a public inquiry finds it was culpable

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk (left)is holding talks with senior judges later, with a plan being promised within days

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is seen leaving her local village church in February 2022. A petition calling for her honour to be removed has received more than a million signatures 

Mr Stride said the government ‘intends to move very quickly’ to resolve the issue, after the long-running miscarriage of justice was brought into the spotlight by an ITV drama.

He told Times Radio: ‘Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, is in discussions with senior people within the justice system, judges and so on, to look at what the options are to make sure that we push through that backlog of appeals as quickly as possible.’

On Sky News, he said: ‘My understanding is that they are happening now.

‘So this is something that is happening hour by hour. It’s not something that’s going to happen next week. It is happening right now and we intend to move very quickly.’

A solution could be announced by the end of the week, the Cabinet minister said.

With more than 700 subpostmasters having received criminal convictions for allegations such as theft and false accounting, Mr Stride was challenged over the slow pace of them being cleared and whether the Government was asleep at the wheel.

‘I wouldn’t accept that,’ he said, pointing to the public inquiry examining what went wrong being set up some years ago and the payout of £138 million of compensation.

MPs have called for Fujitsu, the firm behind the faulty Horizon accounting software that made it look as if money was missing from shops, to pay for compensating wronged Post Office staff.

Mr Stride suggested the company might have to stump up if the inquiry concludes it blundered, saying it ‘won’t necessarily just be the taxpayer’ who is ‘on the hook for this money’.

He told LBC Radio: ‘To the extent that that culpability rests upon the shoulders of others than Government, then I think you can expect ministers to come to the appropriate conclusions. And perhaps it won’t be just the taxpayer that is on the hook for those costs.’

But he stopped short of saying the Japanese tech firm should be barred from being awarded millions of pounds of Government contracts while the Post Office inquiry is ongoing.

‘My view is that we need to wait to see what the inquiry decides in terms of culpability.

Former postmaster Alan Bates, who is portrayed by Toby Jones in the new drama, led and won the initial legal battle after himself falling victim to the faults

Lord Cameron (left) and James Cleverly (right) were among the ministers at Cabinet this morning

Mr Stride also took a swipe at Lib Dem leader Ed Davey (pictured), saying he has ‘big questions’ to answer on his role as postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012 

‘Now in the event that it determines that Fujitsu made a number of knowing mistakes and caused all sorts of problems that wouldn’t have otherwise have occurred, then that would strike me as being quite a serious situation and I would expect some very serious consequences.

‘But we don’t know that at this stage until the inquiry goes through all its due processes.’

Mr Stride also took a swipe at Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, saying he has ‘big questions’ to answer on his role as postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012.

The Tory Cabinet minister told Sky News: ‘Those are big questions which he’s being asked in a very robust way. And I think it’s for him to answer those challenges.’

Reports suggest that 50 new potential victims have approached lawyers since ITV’s Mr Bates Vs The Post Office was broadcast.

The Post Office is wholly owned by the Government.