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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Assembly Member vows to fight Post Office Closures
June 2, 2008 12:00 AM
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, has vowed that he and his party will fight to protect the Post Offices earmarked for closure in his region.
Under the Post Office's 'Network Change Programme' a total of 40 Post Offices will be closing in the South and West Wales area. 19 of these are in the South Wales West constituency. The plans are to close 8 Post Offices in Neath Port Talbot, 7 in Bridgend and 4 in Swansea.
This cull comes on top of the 4,000 Post Offices so far closed by Labour since 1997, 150 of them in Wales. The plan is to close another 2,500 branches across the UK. The Conservatives closed 3,500 Post Offices prior to 1997.
"The Government claim to be working to prevent closures where possible, however, one of the key factors in the decline of Post Offices is the removal of Government business from them." said Mr Black. "In 2006/07 the value of services withdrawn by the government equalled £168 million whilst Post Offices made an operating loss of £111 million."
"There are further threats to our Post Offices on the horizon. Those in the business are warning that if they do not win the contract for the new Post Office Card Account then another 4,000 branches may close. This is not viable. The Government is looking at Post Offices from a profit and loss perspective and not bearing in mind the devastating impact that closures can have on our local communities. Closures also serve to marginalise the most vulnerable in our society."
"I will be supporting every campaign to save local Post Offices. The answer is not closures but investment in the operation of the network. The Liberal Democrats have a plan that would invest an additional £2 billion in the Post Office network. The Government needs to find ways to prevent the devastation to local communities that their closure plans are bringing."
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