Post Office Closures Completely Unnecessary - Öpik

1.11.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 2nd Oct 2007

Commenting on today's Government announcement of the first 180 post offices to be closed, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Secretary, Lembit Öpik MP said: "These closures are completely unnecessary. It is obvious that there are ways of sustaining post offices without breaking the bank. What's missing is the Government's willingness to do so.

"What is the point in consultation if the views of accountants are more important than those of the customer?

"Once again vital social services are being lost to communities for the sake of money and because of an assessment process that takes little account of the effects of the changes being made."

Notes

1. The Liberal Democrats have fully costed plans to safeguard the future of both post offices and the Royal Mail. The proposals include:

Post Office Ltd separated from Royal Mail Group, with the retention of Post Office Ltd in the public sector, giving post offices the opportunity to develop new business.

The establishment of a shared ownership model for Royal Mail with a 51% majority of shares divided equally between the Government and a trust for Royal Mail staff. 24.5% of the shares would be sold directly to staff and small investors, and 24.5% offered for general sale.

The establishment of an investment fund, likely to be up to £2 billion, from the proceeds of shares to modernise branches. This will provide support for opening new Post Office branches where there are serious gaps in the existing network, and start-up investment capital for sub-post offices wishing to diversify into offering additional services to local communities.

A statutory guarantee to protect the universal service obligation (USO).

Powers enabling Postcomm to place a levy on other operators who do not undertake the USO to pay towards its cost.