Publish Workplace campaigner Sir Alan Bates mentioned he has but to obtain a reply from Sir Keir Starmer, regardless of writing to him over a month in the past.
Bates is at present giving proof to a parliamentary committee, calling for a deadline on compensation which has nonetheless not been paid following the Horizon scandal.
He advised MPs he wrote to Sir Keir twice a couple of deadline for monetary damages by the top of March 2025, and added: “I by no means acquired a response.”
He mentioned greater than 70 individuals have died from the group who launched the landmark authorized case, and there are individuals “nicely into their 80s nonetheless struggling.” He added: “Deadlines do should be set. Individuals have been ready far too lengthy.”
Bates advised Sky Information: “I despatched him (Starmer) a reminder yesterday. I advised him the clock remains to be ticking and it’s now 5 months from the March deadline, which I’m advised remains to be achievable by different professionals.”
When requested by committee chair Liam Byrne whether or not he would think about crowdfunding to return to court docket, Bates didn’t rule it out.
He mentioned: “I might by no means say by no means. I do know that if we determine to go down that route we’re going to halt the present scheme, and it’s going to be not less than six, 12 or 24 months earlier than it strikes ahead in that route.”
Referencing an upcoming assembly with the marketing campaign group, he confirmed: “That is likely to be a selection individuals are ready to take.”
Bates has declined compensation provides twice this 12 months, which he mentioned was a couple of sixth of his declare, and branded it “merciless” and “derisory”.
Others affected by the scandal have been sharing their devastating tales in entrance of the committee, together with the daughter of Janet Moorhead, who was as soon as an award-winning sub-postmaster from County Durham.
Ms Moorhead’s daughter Jill Donnison advised the committee how her mum needed to make good losses of as a lot as £5,000 inside hours of a “scarcity” being found, earlier than promoting her enterprise for a “ridiculous” value and dying from ailing well being two years later.
Sir Alan Bates, who’s the driving pressure of the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance which introduced authorized motion in opposition to the Publish Workplace, was knighted for providers to justice in September.
He was sacked in 2003 after defective Horizon software program confirmed discrepancies within the accounts of his Publish Workplace department in Llandudno, north Wales.
Greater than 900 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015 had been prosecuted for offences together with theft, fraud and false accounting attributable to defective Horizon software program which incorrectly confirmed lacking cash.
Many sub-postmasters had been plunged into grave monetary points, some confronted jail time, and a few took their very own lives.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister mentioned a deadline is not going to be set, and defined the ready time reply saying: “It was clearly proper that we took the time to think about the problems raised within the letter to the Prime Minister, think about our response, be sure that it was correct and substantial and clearly we engaged with related departments to make sure that the Prime Minister’s response was as full as potential.”
Additionally they mentioned: “What we don’t need to do is about an arbitrary closing date which might lead to some claimants lacking the deadline. We clearly don’t need to put stress on claimants and put them off contesting their declare.”
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