MPS: POST OFFICES NEED A LIFELINE
Mail campaign gets cross-party backing Call to action with network ‘on precipice’
A STRING of senior politicians and business leaders last night voiced strong support for the Daily Mail’s campaign to protect Britain’s local post offices.
MPs from a range of parties came together to back our call for ministers to give a lifeline to the beleaguered network.
The Mail launched the campaign this week amid an unprecedented crisis.
Up to 2,500 post offices will close or be downsized in the next 12 months because of financial hardship, according to figures from the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters.
Around 1,000 have already shut and more than 3,000 branches in remote areas are only kept running by Government subsidies, which are due to end in April 2021. The impending crisis will make worse the suffering on high streets that has seen 3,500 bank branches close since the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
MPs yesterday urged the Government, which owns Post Office Ltd, to intervene to guarantee a sustainable future for local branches, especially those in rural areas. Their demands came as:
It emerged that postmasters get just a fraction of the fees paid to Post Office Ltd for providing banking services such as cash deposits and withdrawals;
MPs were told the Post Office is ‘looking over the precipice’ and recent attempts to prevent closures had been an ‘unmitigated disaster’;
The chief executive of the Post Office apolo÷Mail gised for ‘getting it wrong’ as he was told his company’s ‘reputation is in tatters’;
More sub-postmasters came forward to tell of their agonising decision to shut their doors after serving their communities for decades.
The Mail’s Save Our Local Post Offices campaign calls on ministers to extend subsidies and ensure a full range of services are offered over-the-counter at branches.
We are also demanding that banks pay their way for the services post offices provide on their behalf and that sub-postmasters – the independent businessmen and women who run local branches – are fairly paid.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said last night: ‘The Daily Mail is absolutely right to raise this critical issue. Too many post offices across the country have closed, leading the service to deteriorate. The Government should review the whole programme to ensure it provides the services communities need.’
Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said: ‘Post offices are a valued part of communities, providing an anchor in many villages and towns across the UK.
‘The Mail’s campaign gets to the heart of securing a sustainable future for our local post offices.
‘Post offices need a lifeline and we should look at them providing more banking services for a fair return – and the case for Government funding to maintain the network going beyond 2021.’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: ‘ With banks closing their small town and rural branches too, the post office can be a critical necessity to communities in accessing financial services.’
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey added: ‘Post offices are a vital lifeline for many people across the country, especially in rural areas, yet the Government hasn’t lifted a finger to prevent them from closing. The Government must act with urgency to ensure that the long-term future of local post offices is secured.’
The Business Retail Consortium said: ‘Post offices play an important role for both businesses and consumers. The access to cash post offices provide can support retailers and local businesses on the high street – all contributing to vibrant town centres.’
Yesterday Post Office boss Alisdair Cameron was publicly shamed by MPs at a meeting of the BEIS committee. Labour MP Peter Kyle, whose local post office in Hove, East Sussex, was closed last year, said: ‘Your brand and reputation in the community I represent is absolutely in tatters.
‘It’s a complete mess and that is something that has been replicated in community after community.’
Andy Furey, of the Communication Workers Union, told the committee: ‘The Post Office of today is sleepwalking into a nightmare because of network transformation. I think it’s the most unstable and vulnerable that it’s ever been. We’re looking over the precipice. The network transformation has been an unmitigated disaster.’
Mr Cameron apologised for ‘getting it wrong’ and told MPs ‘Our first job is to keep the services on the high street.’
Responding to the criticism last night, Postal Affairs Minister Kelly Tolhurst said: ‘We recognise the vital role that post offices play in communities, which is why we require the Post Office maintains at least 11,500 branches nationwide and why we have invested £2billion in modernising the network since 2010. As a result, the network is in its most financially stable position in decades.’