Trouble on the horizon for Tories or Labour
For those who watched Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the ITV drama into the Horizon IT scandal, Fujitsu’s software system will forever be remembered as the blinking light menace lurking under sub-postmasters’ desks up and down the country.
The devastating role that the computer programme played in destroying the lives of hundreds of innocent Post Office workers has led to growing demands for the tech company to be banned from securing government contracts.
MPs from across the political spectrum are demanding that Fujitsu be blocked or at least temporarily banned from winning government work while the full facts of the scandal are worked through.
The calls are likely to grow stronger still following i’s revelations that the company enjoys preferential access to government work as it sits among a select group of preferred bidders under the Government’s “framework agreements”.
The set up means that the Japanese firm continues to secure lucrative government contracts, despite its Horizon system being responsible for the destruction of so many people’s lives.
It also leaves a major headache for the Conservatives and potentially Labour should it win the next election, as both will have to decide whether to stand by the firm that provides extensive data and analytical support to the government across Whitehall.
Fujitsu provides IT services to multiple departments including the Home Office, the Foreign Office, Defra and the Ministry of Defence.
Services include providing the Police National Computer, which stores individuals’ criminal records, the Government’s flood warning system, and the national emergency alerts system launched in March last year.
Untangling the firm from the running of government systems would prove hugely challenging, not to mention costly.
Whether either political party is willing to be honest with the public about this remains very much to be seen.
