A Tory Minister has claimed the Scottish Government is split over how to exonerate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal. Alex Chalk suggested SNP Cabinet Secretary Angela Constance and the Lord Advocate have different positions on the miscarriage of justice. More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions after Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear money was missing at their branches.
Around 100 Post Office subpostmasters in Scotland were among those convicted after being wrongly accused of embezzling money. Constance believes a UK law exonerating the victims should apply in Scotland, but Tory Ministers have so far refused to agree. The Lord Advocate, who as well as advising the Scottish Government is head of the prosecution service, has talked up subpostmasters going through the existing appeals system. Chalk, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary in the Tory Government, conceded there is no “constitutional bar” to a law applying UK-wide. He said he would want to see an “express and clear and settled intention” by the Scottish system to have a UK law, but claimed this was “not evident”. Scottish politics Chalk said: “There seems to be, how can I put it, mixed views as to what the correct approach is and we would want to see far greater clarity about Scotland’s position.” He added: “From what I have been given to understand, the Scottish Government is not speaking with voice on thi