Closing summary
Thank you for following today’s business live blog, focusing on the Post Office Horizon inquiry. It will be closing shortly but you can follow our latest business news articles and features here and reports on the Post Office Horizon scandal here.
Here is a brief summary of the day’s key events:
Former postal affairs minister Ed Davey has said he would have “acted differently” if the “Post Office had told the truth”. In his witness statement to the Horizon IT inquiry, he said: “As I have stated publicly, I believe I was seriously misled by the Post Office. I do not know if one or more civil servants misled me during my time as a minister, or if they were themselves misled by the Post Office. I hope the inquiry can shed light on this. However, if I had known then what we all know now – if the Post Office had told the truth – of course I would have acted differently.” He also apologised to Sir Alan Bates for declining a meeting with him in May 2010.
The government will lay out its plan for compensating post office operators affected by the Horizon scandal this month. Business and trade minister Justin Madders said in the House of Commons on Thursday that the government would be outlining this by the end of July.
The cabinet minister Pat McFadden has told the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal that he now wishes he had questioned the Post Office more over its “emphatic” defence of its flawed accounting software. The Labour MP, a former postal affairs minister who is now chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, said “wrong” information on the Horizon system has had “terrible human consequences”. He also said that ministers “took no part in the decision to prosecute” post office operators by the Post Office.
Former post office operator Mark Kelly, who was falsely accused of stealing money from his post office in Swansea, said Ed Davey “should have done more” during his time as minister for postal affairs. Speaking outside the inquiry room on Thursday, Kelly told the PA news agency: “He should have asked why (the number of prosecutions) jumped up so high. He was taking the easy way out as a minister and not looking too much, just taking civil servants as gospel.”
UK wage growth slowed in May to the lowest level in two years amid a cooling jobs market, underscoring the challenge for the Bank of England as policymakers decide whether to cut interest rates.
Global chip stocks tumbled, with the Dutch company ASML, US firm Nvidia and Taiwan’s TSMC hit by reports of tighter export restrictions from the US and remarks from Donald Trump.
Former subpostmaster Mark Kelly, who was falsely accused of stealing money from his post office in Swansea, said Ed Davey “should have done more” during his time as minister for postal affairs.
Speaking outside the inquiry room on Thursday, Kelly told the PA news agency:
He should have asked why (the number of prosecutions) jumped up so high. He was taking the easy way out as a minister and not looking too much, just taking civil servants as gospel.
He could and should have done more.”
Kelly also criticised Davey for his sunt-heavy style of campaigning in the run-up to this year’s election. He said: “It was quite offensive given what was coming up to today. It felt like a big joke.”
