On Monday we passed second reading of the Government’s Bill to quash all the convictions of the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The purists, especially among legal minds, ‘tut tut’ about the constitutional enormity of Parliament intruding into the proper business of the courts. They fancy that we, like the USA, have a ‘separation of powers’ between the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. They are mistaken. Notwithstanding, the recent innovation of our pretended Supreme Court, the reality is that Parliament remains supreme as it always has.
We have no separation of powers: executive, judiciary, and legislators are all mixed up together in Parliament. The High Court of Parliament remains our real supreme court.
So, we are going to quash the convictions of the wronged sub-postmasters. Once we’ve compensated them, there will remain another important item of business: the prosecution of those who wilfully concealed the truth. This may present all sorts of difficulties and delays.
Here’s a thought. Given, that we’ve used Parliament to quash convictions, why don’t we use it to make some?
It wouldn’t be without precedent, indeed, in the sweep of parliamentary history we passed many such acts of attainder. There appear to be worthy candidates for this legislation, given the number of witnesses who have told the public inquiry that they have forgotten anything they ever knew about Horizon.
Well, I suspect that even the wronged postmasters would baulk at the prospect of politicians deciding who goes to jug. They’d be right: nobody would be safe.