WEIR SLAMS BOTCHED POST OFFICE CLOSURE CONSULTATION

 

Speaking following an opposition day debate in the House of Commons today (Wednesday) on the UK Government’s Post Office closure programme, SNP Westminster Postal Affairs spokesperson, Mike Weir MP, said:

 

“From day one the Post Office closure programme has been botched, and this debate is too little too late for those communities who needed action from the Government months ago.

 

“It is no wonder people are so cynical about politicians when many Labour Ministers and MPs are voting in favour of Post Office closures, whilst campaigning against them back in their constituencies. The fact of the matter is that Labour MPs have been caught on the hop, and now their constituents are paying the price.

 

“These closures are equivalent to the cuts to the railway network made by Dr Beeching in the 1960s. Like those cuts, closure of local Post Office’s will hit rural areas and the vulnerable hardest, and many communities will not know what they have lost until it is gone.

 

“The whole consultation process, right across the network, should be suspended. Local communities and authorities must have a fair chance to challenge the proposals over the future of this essential local service.”