SNP CONDEMNS POST OFFICE CONSULTATION FARCE

SNP MSP Sandra White and SNP Postal Affairs Spokesperson Mike Weir today condemned the Post Office consultation process as a farce after the results of the consultation showed that saving one post office only results in a new post office being added to the closure list.

SNP politicians had earlier warned that the post office tactics left the public in a “catch 22” situation.

Whilst four Post Offices have won a reprieve, four new Post Offices; Stirling University, Clynder in Helensburgh and Pollokshaws and Westmuir Street in Glasgow have been added to the closure list.

Speaking after the announcement Glasgow MSP Sandra White said;

“This is a ridiculous state of affairs and this consultation is clearly a sham.

“I am pleased Glasgow Post Offices at Hyndland and Kelvindale have won a reprieve but now we see Pollokshaws and and Westmuir St added to Glasgow’s closure list instead. Post Offices that were not in the consultation.

“The public and Scotland’s Post Offices are in an impossible situation.
If they save themselves from closure they simply condemn the post office down the road. What happens if the community demonstrates the need to save Pollokshaws – what will be closed then?”

SNP Postal Affairs Spokesperson, Mike Weir MP, said:

"This so-called consultation has been a sham from day one, and this latest development simply underlines how utterly flawed this process is.

"While it is great that some post offices have won reprieve, it is completely illogical for Post Office Ltd to simply substitute different post offices for closure in their place. That is an incredible situation, not least because these substituted offices were, presumably, previously considered essential enough not to be earmarked for closure in the first place.

"We now need to know whether, if these communities are successful in that objective, would that mean that other closure substitutes would have to be found?

"This whole process is decending into complete farce, and UK Government Ministers should step in and stop this nonsense now."

ENDS

Contact SNP Press – Holyrood 0131 348 6228 / Westminster 02072194500

NOTES

Post Office have confirmed that Cultenhove (Stirling); Auchenback (Barrhead, Kelvindale (Glasgow), Hyndland (Glasgow) will remain open.
Kirn, nr Dunoon will close but remain open with a view to a community buy out.

Pollokshaws (Glasgow), University Branch (Stirling), Westmuir St (Glasgow) and CLynder (Helensburgh) are now proposed for closure with consultations starting on 22nd January for six weeks.