Government 'not to blame for Post Office closures,' says MP

[TrueBlueTerrier]

LINK

A Labour MP has claimed Post Office bosses - not the Government - are to blame for the threatened closure of nearly 50 branches across Sussex.

Michael Foster, MP for Hastings and Rye, said the Government had promised £150 million in subsidies for the network every year for the next five years.

This would mean an average annual payment of more than £10,000 for each of the country's remaining 12,000-odd sub-post office branches.

The MP, who was set to lead a late night Commons debate, said: "This Government has recognised the social need of maintaining a comprehensive network. Given that, how has it gone so wrong?"

Mr Foster, in whose constituency four branches are threatened with closure, suggested the blame lay with Post Office Ltd, whose central costs for running the network were "so high".

For example, he said, Tilling Green post office in Rye made an annual profit of £3,500 per year. But, according to the Post Office's figures, the branch was making a loss of £10,000. This was because the network added to the balance its own costs for maintaining the branch.

The MP accepted that "not every post office can be saved in every circumstance".

But he told The Argus: "There's more than adequate subsidy to keep these offices open. Post Office Ltd's central costs are so high and I am calling for a wider discussion on how it can spend so much money on maintaining post offices.

"Closing much-loved, useful facilities to save relatively small sums of money is a cosmetic exercise, when what is required is transplant surgery in the central administration of the Post Office network, where the problem lies."

A spokesman for Post Office Ltd said the "other costs and overheads" it had to pay to keep a branch open included maintaining a national computer network, running the Post Office Card Account, paying salaries, and delivering and collecting cash.

He added: "Virtually all post offices proposed for closure are making a loss to the network."

Post Office customers in Sussex are expected to find out which branches will close - and which, if any, have won a reprieve - in the next few weeks.