Save Our Post Offices - Foster

3.34.13pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 20th Oct 2006

Don and his fellow Liberal Democrats have today put themselves at the head of a nationwide campaign to save Britain's post office network following the Government's failure to take the tough decisions necessary to save our Post Office and Royal Mail services.

After reports in today's Financial Times that the DTI is set to back another major Post Office closure programme ('Thousands more Post Offices face axe'), the Liberal Democrats have used their House of Commons opposition day to call for urgent action.

Commenting, Bath's MP Don Foster, said:

"Thousands of post offices have closed or will close because of the deliberate decision by Labour ministers to remove government business. We have seen six post offices close here in Bath over the last few years, despite strong opposition from residents and Councillors.

"It now seems that the Government's solution to 'stabilise' the Post Office will involve thousands more branch closures, bringing hardship and financial exclusion to millions.

"Only the Liberal Democrats have proposed a major reform of Royal Mail that will enable it to compete in the newly liberalised letters market, whilst also raising the cash for investment that the Post Office network desperately needs."

Commenting on new figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats that show five and a half thousand Bath residents use the post office card account to receive their pensions or benefits, Don said:

"It is astonishing that the Government seems intent on destroying a service which is of such great value to so many people across here in Bath and the country as a whole. The post office card account offers an accessible and affordable way for thousands of people to receive their benefits, yet the Government is proposing to axe it.

"Without the vital revenue stream from the post office card account, the Government is further undermining the long term viability of the post office network meaning that even more than the 3,500 post offices already closed by Labour will be put out of business."