Sunday 24 February 2008

Save our Post Offices!

This weekend I launched our campaign to save our post offices. A leak to the Evening Post reported that the post offices facing the axe in Bristol North West are Wellington Hill West, and Middleton Road.
Labour has already closed one in four post offices in Bristol North West, and is closing 2,500 around the country.

Labour's refusal to support post offices shows a complete lack of appreciation of what function a post office actually performs. Not only does it fulfill the obvious functions, but also provides a focal point for place for people to meet and chat - particularly the elderly.

I was out campaigning on Saturday, and I have lost count of the elderly people who told me they did not know what they would do if the post office closed. Cynics have asked what we would do differently - well, here's what!

Conservatives plan to:
  • Give Sub-Post Offices more freedom to offer a wider range of business services
  • Push for more Post Offices to be 'One Stop Shops'
  • Encourage local Councils to open 'Council Counters' in local branches Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail
  • Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under-cutting the prices they can charge for postage
Post Watch have advised that the best way to make sure that our protest against the closure of these post offices to carries weight is for local people to submit comments on why, specifically, the post office should stay open.

TO SUBMIT YOUR SIGNATURE TO OUR PETITION, AND A COMMENT, VISIT THE CAMPAIGN WEBSITE WWW.SAVEPOSTOFFICES.COM

1 comment:

Dave Gould said...

Nice blog!
The LibDems are also opposing Post Office closures. Between both parties, you have 60+% of the votes.
So what needs to happen?