Government plans could threaten dozens of local Post Offices

8.34.41pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 24th Jul 2006

Peter Black and Bridgend Council Leader Cheryl Green post a letter in Laleston

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, has warned that a Cabinet committee, meeting this week under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, could sound the death knell for dozens of rural Post Offices in Gower, the Neath and Afan Valleys, the Gwendraeth Valley and the valleys around Bridgend.

Mr. Black was speaking after the employment relations Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, told the House of Commons in a recent debate that Britain's smallest rural post offices are visited so infrequently that they lose money on every transaction. Mr. Fitzpatrick told MPs: "Fewer than 16 people a week use the 800 smallest rural post offices, at a loss of £17 per visit."

A National newspaper at the weekend reported that Mr Fitzpatrick refused to give any indication of the size of the potential cull but that he told the Commons trade and industry committee that the Government had to consider evidence given by Royal Mail showing that a commercially viable network would consist of 4,000 post offices. He argued that it is not sustainable to be able to continue with 14,500 sub-post offices across the country.

"There is a real danger that that the Government is about to pull its subsidy of the rural network and signal the closure of 10,000 offices in towns and villages all around the UK," said Mr. Black. "If that is the case then many people will be deprived not only of the services they currently enjoy but a visible and vibrant focal point for the community they live in."

"What angers me and many other people is that it is the Government that is directly responsible for bringing the Post Office network to the edge of this particular abyss. The Chief Executive of Royal Mail, has attributed the loss of revenue in part to the fall in government work. This is set to drop to less than 10 per cent of the Post Office's turnover in five years, compared with 60 per cent five years ago."

"At present 4.3 million people receive their benefit payments through the Post Office card account system. The Department of Work and Pensions has decided not to renew the card account in 2010. Last year the Post Office lost £2 million per week; this year, through losing the pension benefit, they will lose £4 million per week. That is an immediate effect of the decision to abolish the Post Office card account."

"There has been a deliberate Labour Government policy of running down Post Offices. Their actions has already led to the closure of thousands of branches. In 2003, 345 Post Offices in the UK closed, in 2004 another 1,278 went, whilst in 2005 a further 1,352 shut their door for the last time. Labour has forced the Post Office to bear the cost of a failed computer project that was initiated by Ministers, and they have effectively slashed the amount of business passing over Post Office counters by forcing people to accept the payment of pensions and benefits directly into their bank accounts and taking away transactions involving Passports and TV licences."

"The abolition of the Post Office card account altogether in 2010 will be the final straw for many urban Post Offices as well. If the rural subsidy is cut or reduced then thousands of rural branches will join them in closing. A great institution and a major social service will have been brought to its knees by Labour ineptitude. That is the real legacy of Tony Blair."