Jonathan Djanogly, the Member of Parliament for the Huntingdon Constituency, yesterday demanded that the Government do more to stop the closure of rural Post Offices.
Citing the recent experience in St Ives, where local residents and the MP received less than 3 weeks' notice of the proposed closure of the Post Office, Mr Djanogly asked Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what she was going to do in relation to the inefficiency of the Post Office Limited in relation to its:
- Closure notification procedures;
- The finding of alternative sites;
- The ability to recruit and retain sub postmasters; and
- The lack of products available to sub Post Offices.
Mr Djanogly said:
"The Minster's reply was complacent to say the least. If the Government is to be believed, recent changes to the Post Office management have sorted these problems out but my own experience with Post Offices such as St Ives and Upton, let alone around the rest of the country, show that this is simply not the case. In April the Post Office Limited is to change its banking arrangements and it is widely feared that this could reduce sub Post Offices' income by up to 40%. If these problems are not urgently addressed, I foresee that we could be facing a disaster in terms of Post Office closures and I fully intend to keep highlighting this issue."