Vennells said yesterday she would return the award given to her in 2019 as the fallout from ITV's drama about the scandal continued to grow.
Vennells is just one of the highprofile figures caught up in the scandal since the drama first aired on 1 January. Others under scrutiny include the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, and other former postal affairs ministers. Pressure has also grown on senior figures at the technology company Fujitsu, which has been called to testify next week in front of the Commons business committee.
Vennells said yesterday she was "truly sorry for the devastation caused to the subpostmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon [accounting software] system".
Meanwhile, ministers are still trying to decide how best to speed up the compensation scheme and are considering passing a bill to issue mass exonerations for hundreds of people whose convictions have still not been quashed.
Lawyers acting for many of the victims said they had been contacted by more than 100 people seeking legal advice since the broadcast of the four-part drama.
Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, told MPs yesterday he expected to make an announcement shortly on how best to accelerate the pardons and the payouts.
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