Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats and former postal affairs minister, addressed the Post Office scandal during a visit to Stockport.

The Lib Dem leader has come under fire after it was revealed that while serving as postal affairs minister he initially refused to meet former sub-postmaster Alan Bates, a campaigner who fought for justice for the people impacted.

Sir Ed held the role between 2010 to 2012 in the Lib Dem-Tory coalition government.

Around 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were prosecuted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015 when it had prosecution powers, but a 20-year campaign has brought the scandal to light and helped to overturn some of these.

Among the victims are residents of Greater Manchester such as Mohammed Rasul from Salford, who told BBC Breakfast earlier this month that he was falsely convicted and missed seeing his father die because he couldn't leave his home due to a curfew.

During a visit to a primary school in Stockport on Friday (12 January), the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked Sir Ed if he would apologise to the victims in this region.

He said: "My heart goes out to those sub-postmasters, hundreds of them who were treated so badly by the Post Office. I have a postmaster in my own constituency who came to me just two years ago who was prosecuted back in 2009.

"He served 16 months in prison for something he didn't do, he was bullied by the Post Office to say he was guilty when he wasn't, and what I've noticed and I'm sure that many other ministers who had this responsibility over 20 years – Labour, Conservative and others – probably feel like I do.

"We regret that we were lied to by the Post Office on an industrial scale, and I think the inquiry is showing how appallingly the Post Office behaved and how Fujitsu their contractor behaved."

The Lib Dem party leader added: "I wish I knew then what we all know now and I regret that the Post Office engaged in a conspiracy of lies to the victims, the hundreds of sub-postmasters, to the judges and the courts, ministers of all parties, and to the British public over two decades.

"It is a national scandal and I hope the inquiry can get to the bottom of it."

The MP for Kingston and Surbiton has also faced calls to return his knighthood after former Post Office boss Paula Vennells agreed to give back her CBE due to her role in the scandal.

Sir Ed was knighted in the 2016 in the new years honours list for "political and public service."

The scandal began when a computer system known as Horizon was introduced to the Post Office in 1999 by Japanese company Fujitsu. Sub-postmasters were accused of false accounting after large sums of money appeared to go missing.

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