Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill: Instruction (Scotland)

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill was designed to quash, in a single stroke, the criminal convictions of sub-postmasters who had been wrongly prosecuted using flawed evidence from the Post Office's Horizon IT system. Because Scotland has a separate legal jurisdiction, the Bill as drafted applied to England and Wales, with Northern Ireland later brought within its scope; Scotland was left out. In this division MPs voted on an Instruction, moved by Marion Fellows (SNP, Motherwell and Wishaw), which sought to give the Bill's Committee leave to make provision relating to Scotland, in effect, to extend the mass exoneration to Scottish sub-postmasters rather than leaving Scotland to legislate for itself. Supporters argued that the Horizon scandal and the compensation scheme were UK-wide and that Scottish sub-postmasters would otherwise face delay in clearing their names and claiming redress, while the Government, whose position aligned with the Scottish Government, argued that Scotland's distinct legal system meant its own institutions should handle the quashing of Scottish convictions. The Instruction was rejected by 265 votes to 42, so Scotland was not added to the Bill and was left to pursue exoneration through its own separate process.

Read the full debate in Hansard →

AI-generated from the official voting record.