THE Post Office should be removed from compensation schemes linked to the Horizon IT scandal, the Commons business and trade committee said today.

The company is “not fit for purpose to administer any of the schemes of redress required to make amends for one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history” and must be replaced with an independent body, it said in a report.

Chairman of the committee Liam Byrne said it was a “national disgrace” that “only £1 in £5 of the budget for compensation has been issued” to subpostmasters.