Commenting on reports that half the country’s post offices might be shut, Liberal Democrat Shadow DTI Secretary Edward Davey MP said:
Ministers’ claims that post offices must close in their thousands are simply wrong.
These closures have been Government driven as ministers have taken away businesses like pensions, TV licences and passports.
Post offices can be viable if they are set free from Royal Mail restrictions on who they can trade with and given investment boosts to embrace new technologies and fresh business ideas.
We need less buck passing from ministers and more determination to save our post offices which are so crucial to communities across the country.
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6 Comments
Ed Davey talks rubbish again. The reason TV licences no longer go through Post Offices is that Subscription Services Ltd., which did have the contract for collecting TV licences and was a subsidiary of the Post Office, lost its contract with the BBC. Nothing to do with the government.
NuLab apologist.
He may well be. But I hope we can find a better way to deal with our opponents then abusive comments like that.
This site isn’t just “our place to chat” it’s also in part a shop window. Some of the behaviour of Lib Dems on this site is pretty apalling and will do nothing to ehance the party’s prospects.
More importantly, isn’t David misdirecting? If it’s a non-governmental contract that lead to the TV Licence money leaving post offices, is it not directly to do with ministerial decisions that pensions are no longer paid over the counter at post offices and passports have gone elsewhere?
This is a public part of our website. Other party’s activists are supposed to be here. It’s a useful tool to make sure what we are doing is sufficiently robust.
Isn’t it Lib Dem policy to privatise the post office network? Alas, you have one sensible policy.
Get your voice heard – the rural post office network – http://www.ruralaction.org.uk
Everyone has a view on the future of the rural post office network – but will everyone’s views be heard? Perhaps you have a good idea on the future of the network; perhaps your own experience shows a vital aspect has been over-looked. Now there is a simple way to get your point across quickly and easily. The recent popularity in ‘blogging’ – contributing to a weblog or online message board – has inspired ruralnet|uk to set up a blog for this issue: a simple technique allowing thousands to add their personal comments to the debate. Over half of all UK homes have access to an online computer – as well as libraries, youth clubs, schools, day centres, UK online centres, and even some Post Offices! Anyone with an interest can visit the blog and leave their comment on the consultation questions, and read what others are saying.
ruralnet|uk Chief Executive, Simon Berry said “Government consultations are all very well, but they are time consuming and complicated. Fine for the professionals but not for the people affected. It will take just a few moments for anyone to have their say in our collective consultation and their views will go straight to the government.”
Visit http://www.ruralaction.org.uk, click any of the ‘Comment’ links and have your say. You can comment on as little or as much as you like. It is as simple and quick as that. There is no printing or sending to do.
At the end of the consultation period, ruralnet|uk undertakes to summarise objectively all the comments received, and feed them into the Government’s consultation procedure. Says Simon: “We were the first to use the internet to run a collective consultation on the ‘first’ rural white paper way back in the spring of 1999 when we received 1154 contributions. It was said to be “one of the most useful submissions received”. So we know that a collective view from rural people, presented by us will carry a lot of weight.
So, don’t be left out: go to http://www.ruralaction.org.uk state your views and have an impact on the future of post office services in rural areas.