10 months ago
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ARTICLE AD BOX
Image source, Kingston Independent Residents Group
An ex-deputy postmistress from London says she will stand against Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey at the next general election, as he faces criticism over his role in the Post Office scandal.
Yvonne Tracey worked at New Malden post office for more than 30 years and said Sir Ed's attitude "must be challenged".
Sir Ed, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, initially refused to meet campaigner Alan Bates when he was a minister.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 branch owner-operators were wrongly prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting, on the basis of faulty information from Horizon software introduced by the Post Office.
Sir Ed was minister for postal affairs from 2010 to 2012 in the coalition government.
He has been the MP for Kingston and Surbiton since 2017, and served in the same role from 1997 to 2015.
Ms Tracey made reference to another accused postmaster, saying: "Here, in [Sir Ed's] own constituency, the sub-postmaster at Tolworth Post Office lost his home, his business and attempted suicide on more than one occasion.
"He tried three times to get in touch with Sir Ed and every time he was turned away, refused or ignored."
Ms Tracey originally called for a current sub-postmaster or mistress to stand against Sir Ed but has decided to "take up the mantle" herself.
"I'm standing as a resident - not a politician - to put honesty and integrity back into this election, and fight tirelessly for justice once and for all for my former colleagues."
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,Sir Ed said he regretted not asking "tougher questions" of Post Office managers
A Lib Dem spokesperson told the BBC: "Ed's heart goes out to the families caught up in this scandal and his focus is on getting justice and compensation for those impacted.
"He bitterly regrets that the Post Office was not honest with him at the time and will fully cooperate with the inquiry to get to the bottom of what went wrong."
Campaigning in Surrey earlier this week, Sir Ed said he regretted not asking "tougher questions" of Post Office managers, describing what had happened as "dreadful".
A public inquiry into the Post Office affair, which was launched in 2021, resumed this week. The Post Office said it aims to get to "the truth of what went wrong".
A spokesperson for Fujitsu, the tech company that developed the Horizon system, said the company recognised the "devastating impact on postmasters' lives and that of their families" and had "apologised for its role in their suffering".
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