The Scottish Government is considering introducing legislation to remove victims of the Horizon Post Office scandal by the summer.
Attorney-General Angela Constance told Cabinet that the UK government has “inexplicably” refused to quash the convictions of Scottish subpostmasters, despite applying the new legislation to Northern Ireland. Stated.
A letter from UK Enterprise Minister Kevin Hollinrake said it was more appropriate to legislate at Holyrood given the separate legal systems.
The scandal exposed post office executives accused of theft, false accounting and embezzlement based on a flawed IT system called Horizon that ran from 1996 to 2018. Became.
The exact number of people affected in Scotland is unknown, but it is believed to be around 100.
New legislation has been introduced in the UK that would give wrongfully convicted people the option of settling their case for £600,000 without making a formal claim.
However, in contrast to the UK, where the Post Office prosecuted cases privately, in Scotland the Crown and the Prosecution Fiscal Service have sole responsibility for prosecution.
The Scottish Government has previously argued that including Scotland in the bill was the quickest way to ensure equality.
Constance said: “We fully support the extension of this bill to cover Northern Ireland, but it is outrageous that the UK Government refuses to include Scotland as well.”
“The only victims of Westminster law in the UK will be subpostmasters north of the border.”
He added: “For a UK minister to take such action is a betrayal of Scottish Horizon victims” and that the UK Government's decision is “a frivolous political point-scoring exercise”.
Mr Hollinrake said the bill was expanded to include Northern Ireland because the recently reinstated Northern Ireland Administration faced “significant and unique challenges”.
But he said Scotland had a “historically independent legal jurisdiction” and it would be “more appropriate” to introduce separate legislation in Scotland.
A UK government spokesperson said: “Justice is a devolved matter to Scotland, so it is right that Scottish ministers remain responsible for decisions taken in Scotland.”
“The Scottish Government has already indicated its intention to introduce legislation and we will continue to support it in developing proposals to overturn all Horizon convictions in Scotland.”
BBC Scotland News understands that Scottish ministers want to check whether the bill is compatible with the UK-wide compensation system before it is passed into law.
