Saturday 7th June
2008
SNP BACK POST OFFICE
FOR CARD ACCOUNT CONTRACT
LOSS OF CONTRACT COULD
CLOSE 350 POST OFFICES
The SNP National
Council meeting in
Fears have been
expressed that if the Post Office do not get the contract there will be another
round of substantial post office closures, the National Federation of Sub
Postmasters predict around 350 in Scotland alone.
Mike Weir MP, SNP
Spokesperson on Post Office, moved a topical motion at the council. Commenting
he said
"The tender
currently only specifies that the successful bidder must have a network of at
least 10,000 outlets, but there is no requirement for there to be a significant
number of rural outlets. Only the Post Office has enough outlets to be able to
offer a service covering both urban and rural areas."
"The current Post
Office Card Account is the only financial service available in many of our
rural areas and is also vital income for many sub post offices. If the Post
Office were to loose this contract it would be the death knell of many more sub
post offices and we would face yet another round of savage cuts."
"The UK Government
were directly responsible for the current mess by
removing benefit and pension payments from the Post Office. The Card account
was an attempt to arrest that decline and if it was now to go it would spell
disaster."
ENDS