Roger condemns Post Office closures
20 August, 2008
Speaking today after Post Office Limited announced that 30 Post Office branches in Birmingham, including 4 in his constituency, are scheduled for closure Roger Godsiff said: “I condemn the closure of these Post Offices which are still, for many people, an essential and much loved facility.
The decision by Postcom to force ‘phoney competition’ in the postal market years ahead of when it needed to do so under the EU Directive is directly responsible for bringing these closures about. Other countries in Europe have not gone ahead and implemented the Directive yet and they have no obligation to do so for at least a couple of years.
The national savings which these closures will bring about for Post Office Limited are paltry compared with the impact that these closures will have on many of the most vulnerable people in our society such as elderly people and single parents with young children. Britain is in the middle of a communications boom and with such a respected brand as the ‘Post Office’, which is a national network, a bit of imagination by Post Office Limited and Royal Mail could turn the Post Office into a thriving business. Unfortunately imagination amongst the top management of Royal Mail and Post Office Limited is in short supply and, therefore, the general public are going to suffer and a valuable national asset is going to be further undermined.
Exactly the same mistake is being made with the Post Office as happened with British Rail back in the 60s when, in order to cut the subsidy huge swathes of the network were axed by Dr. Beeching. 50 years on the rail network still receives massive subsidies and new, and very expensive, rail lines are having to be put down because there is a desperate need to move passengers and freight off the roads onto railways. Any Government, of any political complexion, would give their right arm if they could turn the clock back and have a rail network as existed in the 1960s and yet we are repeating exactly the same mistake with the closure programme of another national asset – the Post Office. When will we ever learn!”
