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Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has apologised for not meeting Alan Bates in 2010 when the sub-postmasters campaigner wrote to him for the first time about the Horizon scandal.
Sir Ed, who was the Post Office minister at the time, was advised to meet Mr Bates to avoid bad publicity over the scandal.
During a Sky News interview with Kay Burley on Tuesday, he also admitted feeling “embarrassed” about not realising the issues with the Horizon systems.
“I’m sorry for two things,” he said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t see Mr Bates after his first letter – it took me five months to see him, although I was the first Post Office minister to see him.
“Unfortunately, we were lied to. When people lie on such an industrial scale, it’s very difficult. I didn’t see through the lies and I’m sorry about that. It really is very frustrating that I was lied to, ministers from other political parties were lied to.
“Well, of course, when you’re sorry, you wish you’d done something, therefore you feel that you could have gone further.”
Sir Ed was postal affairs minister in David Cameron’s coalition government from 2010 to 2012.
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