TORYGRAPH POST OFFICE SPECIAL 3 - STORIES

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main ... dl1702.xml

The Government's war against post offices appears to have been extended to the village shops that house them.

Not content with pushing through the deeply unpopular closure of 2,500 branches, it is allowing the Post Office to impose mean-spirited and anti-competitive rules on outlets that carry on trading after losing their postal business.

Hundreds of rural shops will lose their compensation for loss of business if they offer anything remotely resembling their former services. So, no selling of lottery tickets; no bill payment for council tax and utilities; no private mail, courier or foreign currency services.

Let us be very clear about the consequences of these rules. Many village shops, whose existence was precarious enough as sub-post offices, can survive only if they receive compensation for their confiscated trade and are allowed to offer associated services.

Charles Hendry, the Conservatives' spokesman on post offices, is not exaggerating when he says that the Post Office "will not only be deciding where people can buy their stamps and renew their car tax, but deciding where they can buy their papers and milk".

As a result, some rural communities could simply disintegrate, and with them the quality of life of elderly and disabled people.

We have argued that the Government - in common with the rest of the political class - has become dangerously alienated from the conditions of everyday life, and nowhere is this more true than in its cack-handed approach to the countryside.

The dismantling of large parts of Britain's post office network has provoked anger throughout the country; astonishingly, ministers in vulnerable constituencies are now campaigning to save institutions sacrificed by their own Government.

There will be even greater anger if these new regulations are enforced. They are the equivalent of kicking a man when he is down and they must be scrapped.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ure117.xml

More than a thousand village shops are facing the threat of closure over "draconian rules" that will ban them from offering rival postal services after their own Post Office sections are shut down.

About half of the 2,500 post offices earmarked for closure double as local shops. Most want to carry on in business after the nationwide closure programme is complete.

In many rural areas they are the only stores for miles around.

However there is mounting concern for their futures after Post Office bosses said they would only pay full compensation to shop owners affected by closures if they agreed not to offer any competing services for a year.

This will mean shops struggling to make up for the loss of the post office side of their business being prevented from offering the following services:
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• Selling any lottery tickets

• Offering any bill payment services for utilities, council tax and other charges, through private operators such as PayPoint

• Providing private mail, courier or foreign currency services.

The new threat to withhold compensation follows a public outcry last year when Post Office bosses were accused of "blackmail" after they told postmasters they would lose thousands of pounds if they did not stick to an officially approved script on closures.

They were told undercover staff would be sent around the country to check that they were saying the right things to customers asking about closures. The plan was hastily withdrawn after details were leaked.

The latest demand - which precedes Wednesday's vote by MPs on the closures - has provoked an angry response from business groups including the Co-operative movement, which runs more than 2,200 shops, 500 of them with post offices.

Sub-postmasters whose branch is axed could lose thousands of pounds if they sell lottery tickets or install payment terminals. The average compensation is £60,000.

Documents given to sub-postmasters by Post Office Ltd, and obtained by The Daily Telegraph, state that there will be "financial implications" for compensation packages if, after closure, their shops offer services "which are the same or similar to some of Post Office Ltd's core products".

The Conservatives said that they were investigating whether the move breached competition rules.

Critics insisted the rules would tip many local shops over the edge, depriving villages and rural communities of vitally needed services.

Charles Hendry, the Tory post office spokesman, said: "It seems the Post Office actually wants to close down our local shops, and not just the sub-post office, by trying to stop them being viable businesses.

"If that happens, then the whole local community will suffer unnecessarily.

"The Post Office will not only be deciding where people can buy their stamps and renew their car tax, but deciding where they can buy their papers and milk.

"The core of this debate should have been about bringing new services into the post office network, not closing our community shops as well."

The closures - which The Daily Telegraph has campaigned against - have proved highly unpopular. Seven Cabinet ministers and 13 other ministers were shown to have joined protests against local branches being closed.

Ken Parsons, the chief executive of the Rural Shops Alliance, said many village shops relied on business generated by customers coming into their premises to pay bills at the Post Office counter.

When the Post Office's own payment service goes, shops should be allowed to replace it with an alternative, Mr Parsons said.

One would be PayPoint, a private operator already in 19,000 outlets across the country.

"The loss to village shops and villagers could be huge. Left to their own devices, most would love to offer payment services. The rules are completely draconian." Mr

Parsons added: "If village shops cannot offer payment services, many people in rural areas will have to take two bus rides to town just to pay bills."

Charlotte Leslie, the Tory candidate for Bristol North West, said: "Penalising shops that want to soften the blow for their most vulnerable customers is unacceptable."

Post Office Ltd insisted its decision to cut compensation to any shop owner refusing to abide by the terms was taken to ensure that as much business as possible "migrates" to the remainder of its network.

It is closing 2,500 branches in an attempt to stem losses in the Post Office network of £3.5 million a week.

A spokesman said: "Retailers who have in their store a Post Office branch that is closing are free to choose to continue providing services such as foreign exchange and bill payment using alternative providers but it would not be fair to use taxpayers' money to compensate them for the loss of a specific service which they have in fact kept."

PayPoint is understood to be furious that hundreds shopkeepers are being told that they cannot sign up with the company if they want to keep their compensation.

Simon Briault, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "This is the Government denying the right to local shops to provide key services to the community.

"How this squares with their policy of being environmentally friendly is a mystery. Anyone who wants to pay a bill or buy a lottery ticket will now need to get into a car."

The Co-operative Movement told MPs investigating the closures, that the compensation deal amounted to "restrictive covenants on our remaining retail business". It said: "The Post Office is trying to reduce competition and acting against the consumer interest."

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... res217.xml


Labour MPs are coming under intense pressure to vote against controversial Government plans to close thousands of post offices.


Ministers say 2,500 branches must close to preserve the network's £150 million-a-year subsidy and cut its estimated losses of £4 million a week.

However the plans have proved deeply divisive, with tens of thousands of people backing a campaign by The Daily Telegraph to save their local branches.

The Tories have called for the closure plan to be suspended and are putting the matter to a vote in the House of Commons next week.

Labour MPs and ministers who have campaigned against post office closures were coming under pressure from their constituents to vote against the closure programme - or risk the wrath of local campaigners trying to save their local post offices.

Last month, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that 20 Government ministers - including seven members of the Cabinet, were battling to save their local post offices prompting accusations of "rank hypocrisy".

Chirav Dalal, who runs the Pontnewynydd Post Office in Pontypool, Gwent, said he hoped that his local MP, Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, would support the motion in next's week's vote.

He said: "I would hope that Mr Murphy would support the two local post offices in the area. We would urge his office to help as much as he can."

Meanwhile, Riaz Bibi, who works in Jack Straw's local post office in Blackburn, Lancs, said that the Justice Secretary should "definitely" be in the Commons to support the motion calling for the closure programme to be suspended.

She said: "We would want him to support the motion. He has come in and opposed it himself. He should be supporting us."

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents postal staff and provides financial support for 10 Labour MPs, is also pressuring the Government over the closure plans by calling for a judicial review of the whole programme.

Andy Furey, the CWU's national officer, said: "We now call on the government to suspend the deeply unpopular closure programme and provide lasting investment to secure the future of the Post Office network. This is a vital and valued public asset which can no longer be neglected."

Last night, Labour Party insiders insisted that they were relaxed about the vote next week. Although it is potentially embarrassing for the party leadership, it will have no legal force.

The Conservatives would have to try to construct a broad "post office alliance" of MPs from the Liberal Democrats, and nationalist parties in order to inflict a bloody nose on the Labour Government, sources said.

The Tories want to call off the closure programme because they are worried the time allowed for people to complain about a closure is too short, and that the criteria used to decide if a post office must close is too strict.

Ministers who are or who have campaigned against the closures:

Geoff Hoon, Chief Whip: Hilltop Post Office, Eastwood, Notts

Paul Murphy, Welsh Secretary: Pontnewynydd Post Office, Pontypool, Gwent, south Wales

Andy Burnham, Culture Secretary: Leigh Road Sub-Post Office, Leigh, Lancs

Tessa Jowell, Olympics Minister: Gipsy Road Post Office, West Norwood, south London

Jack Straw, Justice Secretary: Preston New Road, Blackburn, Lancs

Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary: Abbeydale and Batchley, West Mids (closed)

John Denham, Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary: Oaktree Road, Southampton (closed)

Kitty Ussher, Treasury Minister: Hapton, Lancs

Kim Howells, Foreign Office Minister: Swan Street, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan

David Lammy, Innovation, Universities and Skills Minister: Alexandra Park Road, north London

Jim Knight, Children, Schools and Families Minister: Briantspuddle, Dorset

Joan Ruddock, pictured, Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs Minister: New Cross Road, Lewisham, south-east London

Gillian Merron, International Development Minister:Bailgate and St Peter at Gowts, Lincs (closed)

Parmjit Dhanda, Communities and Local Government Minister: Kingsholm, Gloucester

Anne Keen, Health Minister: Chiswick, Isleworth and Hounslow, west London

Diana Johnson, Whip: Princes Avenue and Beverley Road, Hull, Humberside

Sadiq Khan, Whip: Balham, south-west London

Bob Blizzard, Whip: Flixton Road, Waveney, Suffolk (closed)

Wayne David, Whip: Gilfach, Lower Ystrad Mynach, Penpedairheol and Penybryn, Caerphilly, Mid-Glamorgan

Sarah McCarthy, Whip's office: Twyford Avenue, Portsmouth

[sevenandseven]

Bit confused by some of these claims. I know the Post Office is an all consuming monster but how can it stop shops using PayPoint, or offering courier services once their Post Office contracts have expired? And the lottery. You can buy your tickets in our local Tesco which has no Post Office facilities. Are these moves not anti-competitive in a time when competition is seen as a cure for all our ecomomic ills?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Yeah does seem unfair - "We cant make any money from it and when we get rid of you, you can't try to make money from something we just closed down"

[norbert]

Yeah does seem unfair - "We cant make any money from it and when we get rid of you, you can't try to make money from something we just closed down"

not again ? dubious legality , threatening sub postmasters redundancy pay if they deviated from the RM group script , no TUPE arrangements , adverts filmed in closed post offices

[pinstripe]

I don't know what I hate more, RM's slash and burn policy or the Torygraph with it's right wing neo-Nazi readers who don't give a damn about anything or anyone except themselves. In this situation I would like to see a long drawn out stalemate. Yes save the post offices, but not for the telegraph, if it wasn't for their ideology that greed is good we wouldn't be in this predicament. I just hope that the rest of RM's policies meet with the same outrage. Namely the pensions, denigration of our terms and condition and the destruction of the service, but from the telegraph I seriously doubt it.

[andy2007]

Pinstripe, just because people have certain Political views, doesn't mean that they can't agree with others from time to time. Life isn't as simple as being Left of Right Wing. If the Telegraph chooses to help our cause, then why not give them the credit for doing so?

We need all the help we can get. Do you think that the residents of the areas where Labour Party Members are campaigning for their Post Offices to be saved are complaining about that support?
Admittedly, that support probably has more to do with trying to keep their Seats at the next election. But if it helps, why does it matter?

[norbert]

Pinstripe, just because people have certain Political views, doesn't mean that they can't agree with others from time to time. Life isn't as simple as being Left of Right Wing. If the Telegraph chooses to help our cause, then why not give them the credit for doing so?

We need all the help we can get. Do you think that the residents of the areas where Labour Party Members are campaigning for their Post Offices to be saved are complaining about that support?
Admittedly, that support probably has more to do with trying to keep their Seats at the next election. But if it helps, why does it matter?

you have to go on the my enemies enemy is my friend basis , those MP's don't want to lose their seats but it's better than Blairites or Brownites parroting off a load of flannel about markets .

[Night Tonic]

Pinstripe, just because people have certain Political views, doesn't mean that they can't agree with others from time to time. Life isn't as simple as being Left of Right Wing. If the Telegraph chooses to help our cause, then why not give them the credit for doing so?

We need all the help we can get. Do you think that the residents of the areas where Labour Party Members are campaigning for their Post Offices to be saved are complaining about that support?
Admittedly, that support probably has more to do with trying to keep their Seats at the next election. But if it helps, why does it matter?

I'm in agreement with you Andy. Even the effect of post office closures can be seen everywhere now. Hellmail today says that the effect on other businesses is catastrophic in this country. Fact is, people are getting pissed off with it all. Is a bit tiresome dwelling on political alliances when we need all the help we can get.

[norbert]

Pinstripe, just because people have certain Political views, doesn't mean that they can't agree with others from time to time. Life isn't as simple as being Left of Right Wing. If the Telegraph chooses to help our cause, then why not give them the credit for doing so?

We need all the help we can get. Do you think that the residents of the areas where Labour Party Members are campaigning for their Post Offices to be saved are complaining about that support?
Admittedly, that support probably has more to do with trying to keep their Seats at the next election. But if it helps, why does it matter?

I'm in agreement with you Andy. Even the effect of post office closures can be seen everywhere now. Hellmail today says that the effect on other businesses is catastrophic in this country. Fact is, people are getting pissed off with it all. Is a bit tiresome dwelling on political alliances when we need all the help we can get.

What has not gone unnoticed is that some closure threatened sub offices serve a large area and people be they red , yellow or purple / true blue have to get the reggies and recorded out to keep the wheels of commerce turning , saying you go for a 1-2 to 3-4 mile walk instead simply isn't good enough .

Another irony is a few subpostmasters find that the "replacements " for High Street Crown offices are inadequate for serving business needs .

[pinstripe]

I accept that we need all the help we can get, even from the telegraph readers, but what I will not accept is that if we win they will take the credit for our efforts, then resume their anti-working class / trade union stance, siding with RM in an attempt to drive down our conditions even more. The enemy of my enemy, is my friend doesn't apply here, especially when this enemy will happily use us for their own aims and then discard us. Remember that it is this type of person who represents everything that is anti-worker in this country. It was their greed is good mentality that ruined Britain. Just because they are feeling the pinch that results from their own excesses we should not feel compelled to welcome them with open arms. We should use them as they intend to use us and then distance ourselves from them. You must look deeper than the surface impression they are giving and remember the unflinching support they gave us last year. This is a newspaper (!) that painted us as lazy, work-shy, money grabbing, militants stuck in the 1970's and their views are alien and repulsive to me, I feel no sympathy for them.