Dundee Liberal Democrats

Working for Dundee - all year round!

John Barnett, Clive Sneddon, Cllr Fraser Macpherson and Cllr Helen Dick

Labour failure to stop Post Office closures slammed by Dundee Liberal Democrats

11.16.47am GMT Fri 21st Mar 2008

Royal Mail

Post Office closures slammed by Dundee LibDems

Dundee LibDems today (Friday 21st March) slammed Labour MPs for failing to support local Post Office services after they voted to support the Government's massive post office closure programme earlier this week.

The Government has ordered that one in five branches be closed. Opposition MPs tried to stop the closure programme on 19th March when a motion was proposed in the House of Commons demanding the Government halt their plans to make 2500 branches shut up shop.

But enough Labour MPs rallied around the Government's closure plans to reject the motion and ensure the closure programme can continue unhindered. One of those voting to close post offices was Dundee West's Labour MP Jim McGovern.

LibDem councillor Fraser Macpherson said, "In the coming months, we will be advised what Royal Mail intends doing with local Post Offices in Dundee and the surrounding area.

"The loss of post offices would hit local communities hard. They are vital assets for many local people and closing them will cause many difficulties for older people and others with mobility problems, in particular."

The Liberal Democrats are opposed to the current closure plan. The party has alternative proposals which include:

• Demerge Post Office Ltd from Royal Mail, giving the Post Office freedom to develop services for all mail delivery companies.

• Sell off a 49% stake in Royal Mail to the private sector, make a further 50% available to provide an employee trust for the workforce on the John Lewis model. This will give Royal Mail the freedom of a private sector business to borrow and invest, allowing it to compete with lean and effective private sector businesses in the main UK mail and parcels market.

• Use the proceeds of the asset sale (49% of Royal Mail, which we estimate could release £2bn) to fund the product/service investment desperately needed to make post offices profitable: to transform the retail environment in the Crown offices (currently losing £70m per Ensure that the Post Office network is the cornerstone of the programme to provide every UK citizen with access to a basic bank account. Post offices can play a key part in financial inclusion - they want and need the additional trade that offering basic bank accounts would provide.

Related Link:

Bookmark this story at: del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg FacebookFacebook LibDigLibDig redditreddit StumbleUponStumbleUpon
Print this news story.
Previous news story: Dundee Liberal Democrats call for action for Scottish schools improvements (Thu 20th Mar 2008).
Next news story: Dundee LibDems support World Water Day (Sat 22nd Mar 2008).

Related News Story:

Sat 30th May 2009:

Sat 2nd May 2009:

Tue 7th Apr 2009:

Sat 21st Mar 2009:

Sat 14th Feb 2009:

Tue 10th Feb 2009:

Mon 22nd Dec 2008:

Sat 20th Dec 2008:

Fri 26th Sep 2008:

Fri 12th Sep 2008:

Wed 30th Jul 2008:

Sun 15th Jun 2008:

Sat 31st May 2008:

Wed 28th May 2008:

Sat 24th May 2008:

Tue 29th Apr 2008:

Sat 26th Apr 2008:

Sat 12th Apr 2008:

Fri 11th Apr 2008:

Sun 6th Apr 2008:

Sat 5th Apr 2008:

Wed 2nd Apr 2008:

Mon 31st Mar 2008:

Tue 25th Mar 2008:

Mon 24th Mar 2008:

Thu 20th Mar 2008:

Sat 15th Mar 2008:

Fri 14th Mar 2008:

Sun 9th Mar 2008:

Wed 5th Mar 2008:

Mon 3rd Mar 2008:

Sat 1st Mar 2008:

Tue 26th Feb 2008:

Sat 23rd Feb 2008:

Wed 13th Feb 2008:

Fri 8th Feb 2008:

Sun 3rd Feb 2008:

Sat 2nd Feb 2008:

Fri 21st Dec 2007:

Sun 9th Sep 2007:

Sat 4th Aug 2007:

Fri 3rd Aug 2007:

Fri 13th Jul 2007:

Mon 18th Jun 2007:

Thu 17th May 2007:

Wed 9th May 2007:

Fri 4th May 2007:

Tue 1st May 2007:

Tue 10th Apr 2007:

Wed 14th Mar 2007:

Tue 13th Mar 2007:

Mon 12th Mar 2007:

Fri 1st Jun 2007:

Mon 26th Feb 2007:

Thu 15th Feb 2007:

Tue 13th Feb 2007:

Sun 11th Feb 2007:

Thu 8th Feb 2007:

Sun 4th Feb 2007:

Sat 3rd Feb 2007:

Wed 24th Jan 2007:

Mon 22nd Jan 2007:

Sat 20th Jan 2007:

Tue 16th Jan 2007:

Mon 15th Jan 2007:

Sun 14th Jan 2007:

Fri 12th Jan 2007:

Tue 9th Jan 2007:

Tue 2nd Jan 2007:

Sat 30th Dec 2006:

Fri 29th Dec 2006:

Wed 27th Dec 2006:

Sat 23rd Dec 2006:

Thu 21st Dec 2006:

Tue 19th Dec 2006:

Wed 13th Dec 2006:

Mon 11th Dec 2006:

Sun 10th Dec 2006:

Sat 9th Dec 2006:

Wed 22nd Nov 2006:

Mon 20th Nov 2006:

Sat 18th Nov 2006:

Mon 13th Nov 2006:

Sun 12th Nov 2006:

Fri 3rd Nov 2006:

Wed 1st Nov 2006:

Sun 29th Oct 2006:

Fri 27th Oct 2006:

Thu 26th Oct 2006:

Wed 25th Oct 2006:

Sun 22nd Oct 2006:

Sat 14th Oct 2006:

Fri 13th Oct 2006:

Wed 11th Oct 2006:

Tue 10th Oct 2006:

Thu 5th Oct 2006:

Tue 3rd Oct 2006:

Mon 2nd Oct 2006:

Sun 1st Oct 2006:

Fri 29th Sep 2006:

Sat 23rd Sep 2006:

Fri 22nd Sep 2006:

Thu 21st Sep 2006:

Tue 19th Sep 2006:

Thu 14th Sep 2006:

Sun 10th Sep 2006:

Thu 7th Sep 2006:

Sun 3rd Sep 2006:

Tue 22nd Aug 2006:

Fri 11th Aug 2006:

Thu 10th Aug 2006:

Mon 7th Aug 2006:

Sun 6th Aug 2006:

Thu 27th Jul 2006:

Sun 23rd Jul 2006:

Sat 22nd Jul 2006:

Fri 21st Jul 2006:

Wed 19th Jul 2006:

Tue 18th Jul 2006:

Mon 17th Jul 2006:

Sun 16th Jul 2006:

Thu 13th Jul 2006:

Wed 5th Jul 2006:

Sun 2nd Jul 2006:

Thu 29th Jun 2006:

Sat 24th Jun 2006:

Tue 30th May 2006:

Fri 26th May 2006:

Wed 24th May 2006:

Sat 13th May 2006:

Thu 11th May 2006:

Sun 7th May 2006:

Fri 5th May 2006:

Thu 4th May 2006:

Tue 2nd May 2006:

Sun 23rd Apr 2006:

Sun 16th Apr 2006:

Fri 7th Apr 2006:

Mon 3rd Apr 2006:

Sun 26th Mar 2006:

Sun 5th Mar 2006:

Wed 1st Mar 2006:

Thu 23rd Feb 2006:

Fri 17th Feb 2006:

Wed 15th Feb 2006:

Fri 10th Feb 2006:

Tue 7th Feb 2006:

Mon 30th Jan 2006:

Thu 26th Jan 2006:

Wed 4th Jan 2006:

Thu 29th Dec 2005:

Tue 22nd Nov 2005:

Thu 4th Aug 2005:

Tue 31st May 2005:

Fri 6th May 2005:

Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY.
Published and promoted by Dundee Liberal Democrats , 2a Argyle Street, Dundee DD4 7AL.
The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider.