Ed Davey has launched his 2024 election campaign. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA
Sir Ed Davey said he was “grossly misled”. » by Post Office bosses about the Horizon scandal when he was Post Office Secretary.
The politician, who is now leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Post Office bosses tried to stop him meeting with campaigners while he was in office post from 2010 to 2012.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 postmasters were prosecuted after faulty accounting software called Horizon caused money to go missing from their sites.
< p>Sir Ed said he was 'regretful' that he “didn’t do more” while in office and criticized senior management for still “dagging” on the ongoing investigation into what happened.
The scandal became the topic of the new ITV channel. drama Mr Bates vs. the Post Office, based on the true story of Deputy Postmaster Alan Bates as he fights for justice for his fellow postmen.
When Mr Bates, played in the series by Toby Jones, addresses Sir Ed in 2010, the MP told him he did not believe the meeting would “serve any useful purpose”.
He met Mr Bates in October that year, the same month he held three separate meetings with post office managers.
“I regret not doing more.”
Speaking to Times Radio on Wednesday, Sir Ed said: “I regret not doing more. Frankly, I feel that… I have been deeply misled by Post Office management.”
The Lib Dem leader added that “there were definitely attempts to prevent me from meeting them and I regret that we did not do”. do more.
“But we were clearly misled. I think ministers of all political parties have been misled by the Post Office managers.”
Sir Ed admitted he had yet to see any of the new ITV drama but was committed to watching it and urged other ministers to do so.
He said of Post Office bosses: “Now they are dragging their feet, not providing evidence for investigations, and this is simply outrageous, considering that there are postal masters who are aging, and some even sadly pass away.”
The election campaign begins
His comments come as the Lib Dems launch their 2024 election campaign in Guildford, Surrey, as the party continues to fight for traditional Tory Blue Wall seats.
Sir Ed arrives for the meeting with local campaigners in a van promoting “Ed Davey's Tory Removal” as he described the Lib Dems as “a premium service to unseat Tory MPs provided by the Blue Wall.”
He called for a general election on May 8, telling activists: “Britain cannot wait for the change we need. People are tired of waiting.”
Speaking to The Telegraph afterwards, Sir Ed said the party was focusing on the “growing geography” of Blue Wall seats – from Surrey to Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and the South. West.
“Our territory in which we are going to fight is expanding, and that is quite interesting.”
The Liberal Democrats outlined their election promises, including an end to the dumping of raw sewage . in the rivers and reduce NHS waiting times by increasing the number of GPs and investing in social care.
Sir Ed said: “Keeping people in hospital unnecessarily due to a lack of social care is incredibly expensive. ineffective and the Conservatives are simply becoming world leaders in wasting money.
“They spent so much money and you can go back to PPE and all the scandals around it, to the loan repayment system, which was all a scam.
“I mean, I have never met such an incompetent government, and that applies to their management of the health service.”
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