The Conservatives have kicked-off a campaign to end the closures of rural sub post offices, delivering a petition to the Department for Trade and Industry.

Launched by the shadow trade secretary, John Whittingdale, the campaign particular focus on government proposals to pay benefits to claimants directly into their bank accounts.

It has the support of groups including Postwatch, Help the Aged, the Federation of Small Business and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

"There is less than nine months to go before the removal of counter benefit payments, yet there is a deafening silence about what the government intends to do to prevent the post office network being destroyed as a result," said Whittingdale on Thursday.

"This is not a political issue, a business issue or even just a local issue. The survival of our sub post offices is vital for the pensioners and benefit recipients who rely on them to get cash, for thousands of dedicated small businessmen and women for whom they provide a livelihood and for the isolated rural communities in which they lie at the very heart."

The chairman of Postwatch, Peter Carr, urged the government to publish its plan for the recovery of the Post Office.

"It is important that rural post offices are kept alive not only through government support but also through the development of new services and products that will retain and attract customers," he said.

"The government has had Postcomm's advice on financial assistance for keeping the rural network open for some time. When will we see the government's plan?

"If the government wants to keep rural post offices open they should be actively marketing ways in which customers can continue to use post offices to collect pensions and benefits if they choose."

The campaign came after the Post Office announced a pilot scheme to charge businesses £14 per day for receiving less than 20 letters in the morning delivery, a decision which has been criticised by both opposition parties.

Speaking to ePolitix.com, Whittingdale said: "This a charge which is going to impact upon small firms and sole traders who are probably the ones who are finding it most difficult to survive.

"I would much prefer to see a system whereby firms have an ability to go to the Post Office and say, 'well, we do get less than 20 letters a day but nevertheless we are a small business that relies heavily on a reliable early delivery service,' and the Post Office should have a means of allowing them to receive that service."

Liberal Democrat trade spokesman Vincent Cable said that it was an "outrageous" way to treat customers.

"Large numbers of small businesses do not use large volumes of mail, but are nonetheless highly dependent on prompt and early delivery. These companies will now be penalised despite being the least able to afford the extra cost," he said.

"When Consignia first introduced this idea, it undertook to work closely with the small business groups. It is clearly now acting in breach of faith, and in a customer unfriendly manner, which will not help its long term business prospects.

"I think there would be less objection to this change if Consignia were delivering its mail efficiently. But in London in particular, it is failing to meet its own targets abysmally."

A DTI spokesman declined to comment, saying that it was a purely commercial matter.