The Great Post Office Robbery

1.18.19pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 18th May 2007

Today's news that 2,500 Post Offices are to close demonstrates 'The Government has given up on the Post Office', according to Local MP Sandra Gidley.

This news should come as no surprise considering Labour has been responsible for 4,000 closures since coming to power in 1997.

Commenting Ms Gidley said:

"Ministers are now only interested in managing its (The Post Office) decline."

"The Liberal Democrats are the only party with a properly costed £2bn plan to secure the network's long term future"

"This whole programme is clearly driven by the need to save money and has nothing to do with guaranteeing the long-term needs of people who rely on the Post Office for essential Services."

This announcement comes at a time when the government has put the Post Office Card Account (POCA) to tender due to EU competition rules. POCA is a simple bank account based at a post office into which an individual's benefits can be paid. This highly valuable service is particularly important for pensioners as it allows them to withdraw their benefits in cash from their local post office.

On this issue Sandra commented:

"The way this tender has been drawn up means there is no certainty that this new contract will actually be won by the Post Office."

"If the contract is awarded to another organisation it will have a hugely damaging impact on what is left of the Post Office network."

"People want to be able to collect their benefits and pensions at their local post office. There will be a huge amount of public anger if ministers allow this vital service to go elsewhere."