Politicians battle it out over post offices

Mar 26 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A POLITICIAN has defended her position on the controversial post office closures.

But an opponent claims she has “lost all moral authority” on the issue.

The Government wants to close 2,500 post offices to stem losses of £500,000 a day.

But Colne Valley Labour MP Kali Mountford claims the Conservatives would shut even more branches if in power.

She said: “While making public statements about how essential local post offices are, Tory spokesman Alan Duncan admitted that his party expects the network to shrink in size, and that they will not give a guarantee that no post offices will close.

“He also revealed that the Conservatives would not commit to matching the £1.7bn of new investment which the Government has pledged to sustain a viable network of 11,500 post offices.

“What people should realise is that without the promised investment of £1.7bn by this Government, the post office network would shrink by a further 7,500 branches.ŠSo there is the prospect of further closures if the Tories ever came to power.”

But Jason McCartney, her Conservative rival for the Colne Valley seat, dismissed the criticism.

He said: “It’s interesting how Ms Mountford turns this round to what we would do – she’s the one who’s in Government. This is just a smokescreen.”

In the House of Commons last week the Conservatives proposed suspending the closure programme. Nineteen Labour MPs voted for the halt.

Mr McCartney thinks Ms Mountford should have voted to suspend the closures.

He said: “Nineteen of her colleagues – including Mike Wood of Batley and Spen – voted for the motion, but she didn’t.

“This is another example of a Labour MP saying one thing when she’s up in Yorkshire and then doing something different when she’s down in Westminster.

“She has paid scant regard to the needs of local people and lost all moral authority to talk about saving post offices.”