Labour fails to stop Post Office closures

1.56.22pm GMT Mon 7th Mar 2005

Andrew Dakers, Lib Dem prospective MP for Brentford & Isleworth, outside Isleworth Post Office, which was closed in the late 90s

In a fringe meeting on Saturday at the Liberal Democrat's Spring Conference in Harrogate Andrew Dakers, Prospective MP for Brentford & Isleworth, attacked Labour's complacency in letting almost half of the constituency's post office network disappear in just three years.

Andrew said:

"The story is the same up and down the country. First, you see a notice of 'important changes to your post office' up in the window. Then the Post Office goes through the motions of a consultation process. They say they will listen to and consult local residents. But we all know it is a foregone conclusion.

"Of course, the Labour MPs in the area made vague promises to look into the matter. Alan and Ann Keen - the Labour husband & wife Hounslow MPs - should be ashamed. It is shocking to think that whilst they were spending their constituents hard earned taxes on a flat in Covent Garden, our post offices were disappearing.Too often, it comes down to the Liberal Democrats to lead against post office closure.

"In Hounslow borough we are standing up for local residents. With true grit and determination, my colleague, Satnam Kaur Khalsa (PPC for Feltham and Heston), has battled post office closures. Satnam's constituents have seen a collapse in the number of local post offices, from 21 to 10.

"No less shocking, in my own constituency, our local post offices have collapsed from 22 to 12. That is almost half of the service going in just three years. I say this is not network reinvention, but network decimation. Make no mistake, for the people most dependent on those post offices: the elderly, the disabled and the less well off, the closures have been a nightmare.

"Added to this, the post office thinks that a post office within a 'mile' is an acceptable 'local' service.

"But how can they ask my grandmother, or yours, to walk a two mile round trip to their 'local' post office? If this is Labour's idea of a local service, then it's no wonder they think top-up fees are the answer to student debt.

"Post Offices are a vital part of the social fabric of our community and Liberal Democrats remain committed to stopping further Post Office closures."

ENDS

Notes

The Liberal Democrat Spring conference passed the following motion on Post Office closures on Saturday.

Post Office Closures Motion

Conference notes with dismay that 2,190 post offices closed between March 2001 and June 2004, a reduction of 12 per cent in post office numbers nationwide.

Conference affirms its commitment to ensuring that sub-post offices, a vital part of all communities, continue to offer the services their customers need and notes that many communities and customers are presently deprived of these services.

Conference believes that post offices are an integral part of a sustainable community, which with imagination can be made into viable business operations.

Conference condemns the Government and the Post Office for their short-sightedness and their collective failure to protect and support sustainable local communities.

Conference calls upon the Government to take action to minimise future post office closures by:

1. Halting the pressure on pensioners to receive their pension payments directly to bank accounts.

2. Retaining the use of the pension book for those who wish to use it.

3. Expanding the range of services available at post offices in order to make them viable businesses, including using post offices to meet the Government's own e-agenda.

4. Encouraging existing businesses in communities without post offices or in danger of losing a post office to establish a post office counter as a service to the local community.

5. Promoting the use of local post offices through a nationwide marketing campaign

6. Exploring the possibility of developing post offices as community banks

Conference believes that the management of the Post Office would be improved by direct participation of those with experience of sub-post offices and accordingly calls for at least one member of its management board to be elected by sub-postmasters and -postmistresses