Cllr Caroline Payne is backing the campaign to safeguard the future of the local post office network

Last month campaigners from across Britain handed in the largest ever UK petition to 10 Downing Street. Over four million people are calling on the Government to safeguard our vital post office network.

Local post offices are under threat like never before because the Government keeps moving away business from them while not allowing new services to be offered, or encouraging any new investment. At the present time many small post offices are losing money. These often provide a vital, or even the only, local service in many villages. Their importance has been recognised in recent years by a small subsidy from the Government but they have so far refused to say whether this subsidy will continue beyond the end of this year.

The Government has also announced that it will not use Post Office Card Accounts to pay pensions and benefits from 2010. This is worth more than one billion pounds to local post offices between 2003 and 2010, and could lead to the closures of thousands more post offices.

Caroline Payne, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Beaminster, is backing the national campaign to get the Government to safeguard the future of the local post office network.

“Under the last Conservative Government, 3,500 local post offices closed, while under Labour another 4,000 have closed, hitting communities across the country. 10,000 more could face closure in the coming years, reducing the number to a mere 4,000. Neither the Tories nor Labour have any plan to safeguard the future of our vital post office network,” says Caroline. “Without a change of attitude the future for many local post offices looks bleak.”

The Lib Dems are proposing a 5 point plan to breathe new life into the post office network, including a £2 billion investment fund, new services and retention of the Post Office Card Account.

Lib Dem 5 Point Plan to save our Post Offices

• Invest £2 billion in Post Office branches
• Open new branches where there is need
• Retain Post Office Card Accounts for benefit payments
• Free the Post Office from Royal Mail restrictions to let it develop new business
• New legal requirement for the Government to maintain the local Post Office network