24 April 2008 : Article

Post Offices vital to local communities, says MP

Post offices provide a vital lifeline to many communities throughout Telford and Wrekin. It is not just pensioners and the elderly who will be affected by their closure - but local families and people who live alone. The government have tied the hands of sub-postmasters for too long. Sub-postmasters just want to be free to grow their businesses but instead the government have systematically underminded both the rural and urban post office network by taking away key parts of their business and leaving a huge hole in the pay-packets of many sub-postmasters who have given many years of dedicated public service.

The biggest blow to local post offices came when the government forced pensioners to switch from pension books to having their state pension paid directly into bank accounts. This stopped a vital revenue stream overnight and meant a dramatic reduction in footfall in many post offices. This led to a fall in secondary sales, such as newspapers and groceries, decreasing further sub-postmasters profit margins and ability to make ends meet. This has already caused job losses and some sub-postmasters into retiring early. All the time the government have been piling on the financial pressure and gnawing away at important livelihoods.

The government have also removed TV licence income, as well as refusing many sub postmasters the opportunity sell car tax discs and other DVLA products and services. That is why it is disengenuous at best for Labour MPs to suggest that the government has done as much as they can for post offices - when it is the government itself that refuses to allow local post offices to expand and grow. The government's logic is that post offices can remain open but both of their arms must be tied behind their back first. Local residents are not stupid and will see through the government's smoke and mirrors and will not forget the latest phase of Brown's social engineering agenda.

I want to see our local post office network thrive and compete for new business. But the government has already made up its mind to close 2,500 post offices – whatever the outcome of the consultation process. This is in addition to the 4,000 post offices the government has already closed. Yet again, government ministers and Labour MPs have shown they they are completely out of touch with hard working families and pensioners who have worked all their lives, paid their taxes, played by the rules, and now feel in creasingly abandoned by a government quite willing to bail out taxpayers in the Labour heartlands on the North East and Scotland, but still unwilling to help small communities in Shropshire. The people of Telford & Wrekin no longer believe Labour is on their side - that is clear from the polls. Where there is a business case and clear community support - post offices should remain open. One example is King Street, Wellington where the post office is used by a wide variety of people from small businesses to local residents. The staff are polite and hard working and the government should not ride rough shod over the views of local people. King Street, post office should remain open. So far scores of people have signed my petition to keep working post offices open.

Whilst many feel the government consultation is a sham, and they may well be right, I think it is still important to send a clear message to Labour Minister's that post offices in Telford & Wrekin serve an important and vital purpose, and if a business case can be made for their survival, then government ministers should listen and revoke the closure plans. That is why it is important that as many people sign my Stop The Closures petition which can be signed online at: www.markpritchard.com or at my office in Wellington or by downloading the petition and placing in local and community locations. Together, we can try and save local post offices.