Yvonne Tracey, a former deputy postmistress from London, has announced that she will run against Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey in the next general election. Tracey, who worked at New Malden post office for over three decades, believes that Davey’s attitude towards the Post Office scandal must be challenged. The scandal involved the wrongful prosecution of over 700 branch owner-operators, who were accused of theft, fraud and false accounting on the basis of faulty information from Horizon software introduced by the Post Office.
Davey, who served as minister for postal affairs from 2010 to 2012, initially refused to meet with campaigner Alan Bates when he was a minister. Aleksandra Wisniewska, Davey’s Political Secretary, said last year that while he now understands he should have been more involved, Davey was not briefed by officials on the true nature of the scandal.
Tracey explained that the sub-postmaster at Tolworth Post Office, which is in Davey’s own constituency, lost his business, his home, and attempted suicide on multiple occasions. He tried unsuccessfully three times to get in touch with Davey, who refused to meet with him. Tracey had originally called for a current sub-postmaster or mistress to run against Davey but has now decided to stand herself. She said that she wants to put honesty and integrity back into the election and fight tirelessly for justice once and for all for her former colleagues.
A public inquiry into the Post Office scandal resumed earlier this week. The Post Office has committed to getting to the truth of what went wrong. A spokesperson for Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon system, has apologised for the company’s role in the suffering caused to postmasters and their families
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