Petition Handed over to Number 10

I am pleased to announce that on Wednesday 4th March 2020 at 15:30 we delivered the petition with 5404 (including by hand signatures) to 10 Downing Street addressed to the RT Hon Boris Johnson Prime Minister, Alok Sharma Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and to Paul Scully Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Postal Affairs Minister.  My local MP for Jarrow Kate Osborne was there to handover the petition and I have to pass on a big thank you for her support in all of this.  But most importantly a huge thanks to everyone that has signed this petition and really helped spread the word.  The comments made by some on this petition have been read by a large number of MP's and they realise that public support and anger is growing and that action must be taken to right the wrongs of the past.

Both ITV and BBC covered the event live outside number 10 and these can both be seen below.  

BBC Look North - https://youtu.be/vZfNjC1vM5A

ITV Tyne Tees - https://youtu.be/Cbzl3V1A0Ig

The Daily Express who have supported this petition quite early on were again in attendance to cover the delivery of the petition.  The article can be seen below :-

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-express/20200305/281732681535087

I am told the Shields Gazette will cover the story online either tomorrow or early next week and also in the print copy soon after.

The pressure on many fronts from all the victims of the Horizon IT Scandal has really made MP's and Minsters across the House sit up and take notice that something must be done to finally put an end to this nightmare everyone has endured.  Today a 90 minute debate took place in Westminster Hall and I must say I was very impressed with the MP's who contributed to this and they really had done their homework on all the issues involved.  The debate was brought by Lucy Allan MP for Telford who said that Post Office has had many chances to be part of the solution but chose not to and put as many obstacles in the way of justice as possible.  She agrees with us that even though the Post Office says it 'got things badly wrong', that nothing much has really changed and they continue as though nothing has happened.  The other members of the House who contributed to the debate were Emma Lewell-Buck MP, Sharon Hodgson MP, karl Turner MP, Andrew Bridgen MP, Gill Furniss MP, Steve McCabe MP, Philip Dunne MP, Duncan Baker MP and Ian Paisley MP.  I am sure they will forgive me if I missed anyone but they were all fantastic.  If you have listened to the previous Private Eye and BBC File on 4 Podcasts and then you watch the debate online below you will understand the anger shown by MP's.  It is 90 minutes long but it talks about the main issues of this case, individual cases and how Post Office have been answerable only to itself as Justice Fraser quite rightly pointed out.

https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/43a773a5-2ca3-405a-8247-0a7703534961?in=13:30:00&out=15:00:30

A Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee inquiry will begin next Tuesday 10th March calling previous CEO Paula Vennells, current CEO Nick Read, Fujitsu employees, government ministers past and present and the non executive board member who is responsible for Post Office on behalf of the government.  The 2nd part of this BEIS inquiry will be on the 26th March and further debates are tabled over the course of this month.  All can be watched on parliamentlive.tv and by choosing the 'Full Event Guide' to see what is scheduled for that particular day.  

Once again a really big thank you to everyone for signing and supporting us.  The petition will remain live until an inquiry is officially launched and any breaking news will be sent to all supporters so they can see what they have helped us achieve.