The Conservatives have been rattling on about Post Office Closures in their literature. This note is intended to pick up facts on the issue that can be used if folk raise the question with us.
Labour: Removed business such as TV licences, vehicle excise duty and passport authentication from post offices, and are phasing out post office card account, leading to closure of 4,000 post offices since they came to power. They plan to close another 2,500 by 2009
Tories: Oversaw the closure of 3,500 post offices when they were last in power. They are now campaigning against closures but have no policy on how they will manage to retain the existing network, let alone recover closed offices.
In Aylesbury, the Lib Dems organized petitions against the closure of four sub-urban sub-post offices. The only Tory involvement was Lidington who did meet with the PO management along with Lib Dem petitioners.
UKIP: You will be surprised to know that UKIP think that it is all the fault of Brussels! There is a European regulation which controls the provision of subsidy to entities, such as the PO, which is supposed to be but one player in a competitive market. There are, of course, many ways of helping to preserve the sub-post office network that do not involve direct, anti-competitive, subsidy of the parent company.
Lib Dems: We are calling for a £2bn investment in the post office network, funded by a limited sale of shares in Royal Mail, plus greater freedom for post offices to undertake new business opportunities to enable them to remain commercially viable.
Locally, we would use both existing powers for supporting village shops etc and economic development powers to support sub-post offices where there are no viable local alternatives. [There are examples in other areas where this has been done] |
