Prime Minister Rushi Sunak told MPs that a new law will be passed to deal with the victims of the Horizon scandal, which he described as ‘one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history’.

He confirmed the decision in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating: ‘People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and reputations destroyed through no fault of their own.

‘Today I can announce we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

‘We will make sure the truth come to light, right the wrongs of the past and victims get the justice they deserve.’

So far only 79 convictions have been overturned, with at least 800 postmasters still waiting to see justice.

The Horizon accounting scandal affected nearly 10,000 postmasters, who used the Fujitsu made system to handle their accounts. Horizon was first installed in Post Offices as early as 1991 and faults in the software meant that daily transactions were wrongly reported, leading to cash shortfalls, which the Post Office accused postmasters of stealing, resulting in hundreds of wrongful convictions.