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4 ASIAN TRADER 4 OCTOBER 2024

The Post Of ce announced

that Nick Read has decided to

step down as chief executive

on 15 March 2025.

Read was appointed CEO in

September 2019, with a remit

to modernise Post Of ce.

In November 2019, he led

the settlement with the group

litigation claimants in the

Horizon case, beginning the

journey to address the wrongs

of the past and to reset the

relationship with postmas-

ters.

Post Of ce said he champi-

oned the appointment of two

postmasters to the board and

focused on increasing post-

master remuneration,

training, expanding ﬁ eld

teams and support as part of an

initiative to place postmasters

at the heart of organisation.

“It has been a great privi-

lege to work with colleagues

and postmasters during the

past ﬁ ve years in what has been

an extraordinarily challenging

time for the business and for

postmasters,” Read said.

The 2019 settlement paved

the way for redress for

postmasters impacted by the

Horizon scandal, leading to

government legislation to

exonerate those wrongly

convicted.

Post Of ce chief executive

Nick Read steps down

Red letter day

he Post of ce Inquiry, chaired by Sir Wyn Williams,

has now commenced Phase 7, the last. As the gun

smoke of Phase 6 clears, revealing the shattered

reputations of many of the main players in the drama, the

hearings will begin to examine current practice and proce-

dure at the Post Of ce, as well as compensation.

The idea is that “best practice” and the culture of the

institution will be – “renewed” is not the correct word here,

but perhaps “instituted” will do; although hopes are not

high.

Sir Alan Bates, champion of the downtrodden subpost-

masters, has accused the government (whose civil servants

and ministers we have seen revealed during the hearings as

aloof or disinterested, if not worse) of cynicism and

foot-dragging over already long-delayed and incomplete

compensation pay-outs.

“The whole compensation issue [is] out to exhaust

victims until their deaths”, he said, while calling on the

authorities to set a deadline of next March to pay, and

criticised the Group Litigation Order scheme for being a

“gravy train” for government lawyers:

“I have come to the conclusion that the department is

run by government-employed ﬂ imﬂ am artists, whose only

role is to draw out the GLO Scheme, and probably the other

schemes, and spin the narrative then bury it in bureaucra-

cy.”

We hope sagacious Sir Wyn – whose interjections during

the inquiry always hinted that he knew exactly what the

government and Post Of ce were up to, and had done, and

were still doing – will have the power and thunder to ﬁ nally

push the establishment elephant up and over the hill.

Meanwhile, the new government has settled in and is

preparing its budget, having already announced other

policies, to a mixed reception from the public. One proposed

piece of legislation that will be of concern to convenience

retailers is the upcoming Vape and Tobacco bill.

We mention this often because the categories represent

an important fraction of revenue and proﬁ t for retailers,

never mind vapour being a long-term, healthier income

replacement for tobacco.

The hostility from politicians to vape, and the diminu-

tion of civil rights in the push to eventually ban all nicotine,

is revealed by a recent poll of Labour MPs which asked them

to rank in order of importance the upcoming legislation. It

revealed that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill had the lowest

priority, with just four replying that it was in their top three

priorities over the coming months. In fact, nearly half of

them (48%) said the proposed bill was their lowest priority.

Unfortunately, what this means is that no MP is willing

to spend any of their (rapidly diminishing) political capital

on defending the rights of smokers or vapers, although it

appears they are keen to ban petrol and diesel vehicles and

central-heating boilers as soon as possible: Ed Miliband’s

“Great British Energy Bill” led the list of priorities, with 27%

of MPs marking it as their top priority.

So, the UK is now the only major economy that cannot

manufacture steel from scratch, and we must all buy EVS

from China.

Prime Minister Keir

Starmer said at the Trade

Unions Conference.

Addressing the delegates

in Brighton, Starmer

expressed concern at

rising retail crime levels.

Responding to a

question from Usdaw on

abuse of shop workers, Starmer

said, “On the question of

of ences against retail workers,

this truly is shocking. It is not

acceptable, and it can’t be

acceptable in any circumstanc-

es. It is demoralising for the

workforce, and that’s why I’m

pleased we can introduce an

of ence to deal with it.

“We can’t have the situation

where shoplifters can walk in,

shoplift and walk back out again

and nobody can do anything

about it. We’re going to change

that, work with you. We have to

take it seriously. I’m not

wanting to hear again from

those on the front line about the

appalling attacks and insults

that they are subjected to.

“It’s everywhere across the

country; it is really hard for the

workforce to take. You have

rightly championed it as a cause.

We join in that cause and we will

do something about it, working

with trade unions on such an

important issue.”

Speaking after the speech in

the Brighton Centre, Paddy

Lillis – Usdaw general secretary

said, “Keir’s address was an

honest account of where our

broken economy stands, after it

was trashed by the Conserva-

tives. He laid bare the hard work

and tough choices that will have

to be taken as we head towards

the light at the end of the

tunnel, to deliver new hope for

the country.”

Labour will ‘go further’ to crack down on retail

crime says PM

Starmer vows to get

tough on retail crime

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