UK law quashes all post office scandal convictions

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Good morning. The UK government will today introduce unprecedented legislation to quash all convictions in England and Wales related to the Post Office scandal, one of the country's biggest miscarriages of justice.

The bill, which the government hopes will be passed into law by the end of July, will exonerate hundreds of deputy postmasters who were wrongfully prosecuted based on evidence of flaws in the Post Office's problematic Horizon IT system.

The government said it would cover crimes allegedly committed between 1996 and 2018 involving deputy postmasters, their employees, family members or direct employees of the Post Office.

Postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake said the deputy postmaster could accept a “fixed final offer” of £600,000 or have his claim assessed under existing procedures, with no limit on the amount.

More than 700 deputy postmasters have been convicted of alleged crimes, including theft and fraud, in a case brought by the Post Office using data from a faulty Horizon IT system developed by Japan's Fujitsu. Learn more about the legislation.

Here's what else I'm focusing on today:

• U.K: The Treasury Committee takes evidence from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on last week's spring budget statement. The National Bureau of Statistics released its January GDP forecast.

• result: Despite the Yeezy fiasco, Adidas still expects to post an operating profit of 268 million euros. Other reporting companies include Balfour Beatty, Eni, Eon, F&C Investment Trust, Ferrexpo, Geberit, The Gym Group, Inditex, Metro Bank and Volkswagen.

• Financial Times Climate Capital Live: The two-day event provides a unique forum for climate leaders, politicians, CEOs and financiers to discuss how their organizations can move from commitment to implementation of net zero targets.

Five more popular stories

1. Ukraine’s new mobilization law will be submitted to parliament for a vote on March 31. The bill aims to update the country's legal framework ahead of a wave of conscription this year that is expected to see up to 500,000 people draft into the army. The effort was primarily aimed at replacing the 330,000 soldiers currently exhausted on the battlefield, but the law has proven controversial.

• More information about Ukraine: EU countries will agree to add an additional 5 billion euros to a fund to finance the delivery of military supplies to Kiev, while the United States has managed to raise $300 million for ammunition and artillery.

2. The EU is preparing to provide Egypt with a 7.4 billion euro aid package aimed at supporting its economy. There are fears that conflicts in Gaza and Sudan could exacerbate the North African country's financial difficulties and increase migrant pressure in Europe. The proposed deal is the latest in a series of deals the EU has struck with North African countries to avoid economic instability and stem irregular migration in the region.

3. UK Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer promises to give MPs a free vote on legalizing assisted dying in England if his party wins this year's expected general election. MPs voted against changing the law in 2015, but Kit Malthouse, a former Conservative minister and co-chair of the cross-party parliamentary group, said last year that “the mood in Parliament has changed significantly”. and “is becoming increasingly important.” Towards the Majority”.

4. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden received enough delegates to secure their respective party’s nomination for President of the United States, A rematch of the 2020 White House race is scheduled for November. Trump secured enough support for the Republican nomination yesterday after winning the primary in Washington, while Biden won in Georgia. The comfortable victories demonstrated the candidates' dominance over their respective parties, but also masked some weaknesses on both sides.

5. China is canceling infrastructure projects as it struggles to reconcile austerity with economic growth. Beijing has ordered more than a dozen highly indebted regions, many of them underdeveloped and far from the coast, to limit infrastructure spending in an attempt to reverse a decade-long investment boom that many say is unsustainable. But austerity may make it more difficult to achieve the government's ambitious 5% growth target.

news depth

Roger Altman's New York boutique investment bank Evercore initially looked at Lazard and Rothschild. Nearly three decades after it was founded, the firm is closing the gap on its core trade advisory business with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley. The company achieved this feat in part by leveraging current CEO John Weinberg's alma mater: Goldman Sachs. His arrival validated Evercore's model and signaled a new era of rise, earning the Uptown firm the nickname “Goldman Sachs North.”

We are also reading and listening. . .

• Carry interest: Labour's plan to increase tax rates on executive takeovers could be more damaging than Brexit, a top private equity lawyer in London has warned.

• Israel vs. Hamas War: Israel has not yet achieved all of its wartime objectives in Gaza. But for Hamas, victory has now largely narrowed to one thing: survival.

• Unhedged 🎧: Host Ethan Wu joins AQR's Cliff Asness to discuss factor investing – picking stocks without relying on a story or industry.

Join Financial Times colleagues at noon London time on 21 March for a subscriber webinar to discuss Israel's war with Hamas, concerns about the wider conflict and the possibility of a long-term solution. Sign up now and ask the group your questions.

Chart of the day

What is the future of China's economy? Martin Wolf writes that the issue raises many questions, not least China's persistent macroeconomic imbalances, the threat of population decline and deteriorating relations with parts of the outside world. But underlying it all lurks a deeper question: Will Deng Xiaoping’s seemingly paradoxical invention of “communist capitalism” inevitably disappear under Xi Jinping?

Take a break from the news

The power of place, women launching start-ups and the good, bad and ugly of management are all themes in the business books we're reading this month.

Other contributions by Benjamin William and Gordon Smith