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Post Office Closures

Obviously I do not know the precise details of the consultation in my right hon. Friend's constituency, but I urge him—I am sure he will not need urging from me—to make those arguments to the Post Office, because they are perfectly credible and strong arguments. As I have said, the Post Office is under an obligation to take them into account and to justify the proposals that it is making. There is one other important factor that we should all try to reflect on in this debate, as we come to making up our minds about which way to cast our votes. In the 23 area plans that have been published to date, on average, 90 per cent. of customers will see no change to the post office that they currently use and 99 per cent. will either see no change at all or be within one mile by road of an alternative branch. That is the reality of what we propose. I hope that hon. Members in all parts of the House will take that into consideration. I want to turn briefly to Essex county council, which has been raised on a number of occasions. Some hon. Members have already raised the interest of local authorities in taking over the services provided by some existing sub-post offices, and I am sure that others will raise it later. Where a local authority makes serious proposals to maintain a service where branches are scheduled for closure, I would encourage Post Office Ltd fully to explore all those avenues. It is clear that Post Office Ltd will want to ensure that all relevant costs are covered—my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) made an important intervention on that point—that there is a commitment for several years and that there will not be a damaging impact on post offices in the area that are not currently scheduled for closure. Councils will need to account to local taxpayers for expenditure on a network that is currently loss making. Ultimately, it is for Post Office Ltd and any local authority to discuss and agree the details of those arrangements, and to ensure that those rules are compatible with EU rules on state aid. As I have said, I have today written to Post Office Ltd, the Local Government Association and the National Federation of SubPostmasters to set out the Government's position. I have placed a copy of that letter in the Library.