If the Post Office were a private company, it would have long ago gone bankrupt. The organisation wrongly accused hundreds of subpostmasters of theft, fraud and false accounting, dragged them through the courts in unfair and aggressive prosecutions, and then tried to cover it up. The real culprit, a buggy IT system called Horizon, should have been obvious from the start. Tragically, the evidence was ignored.
ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office compellingly illustrates how the Post Office’s actions led to what has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history. It ruined lives and livelihoods on an industrial scale and led to several suicides. The organisation's reputation is now rightly in the mud, and significant compensation is owed.
The directors and shareholders of a private entity which behaved in such a way would likely be forced to shut up shop. Instead, the taxpayer is bailing out the organisation, to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds. The Post Office will continue existing because, unlike a private company, it will not be allowed to fail and have its business taken over by competitors.
This scandal demonstrates a severe lack of accountability compared to the raw power held by the state. As I wrote in my CityAM column this week, responsible ministers repeatedly ignored warnings about issues with the Post Office. They used the excuse that the organisation is an ‘arms-length body’ to fob off concerns.
This is a neat arrangement for ministers. The state devolves power, responsibility, and resources to hundreds of arms-length bodies. Then ministers can shirk responsibility when things inevitably go wrong. This dynamic has only worsened over time as the state has taken on more responsibilities, making it practically impossible to properly monitor for all the mistakes throughout the system.
The Post Office scandal has hit a nerve because it conveys a broader feeling that the system is unresponsive. Hundreds of other public bodies act with impunity and it’s time for greater accountability.
