A POST OFFICE FOR PEOPLE - NOT PROFIT

25-10-2007

The Stirrer is agog that the news of 50 more post office closures in Birmingham has been greeted with apparent apathy by the city's Labour MP's and councillors. Never mind the red flag flying....they're all hanging out the white flag of surrender.

It shouldn't be too difficult an equation for someone of a left-leaning nature should it? Post Offices are A GOOD THING.

They provide a whole range of public services; it's where you post parcels, pick up official forms, or maybe collect your pension.

Some of their functions have been superseded by modern technology, but the PO has moved with the times too, offering many new facilities - getting cash for your trip abroad for example.

They also draw people to local shopping parades all across the West Midlands, generating spin-offs for other businesses in the area.

With one in every neighbourhood, they are accessible by young and old, rich and poor, and can mostly be reached by on foot.

Or at least they used to be. Already, the closure programme - not only endorsed by central government but actively funded by it - has started to hit communities hard.

Dozens of Post Offices have already closed in this region - and now it seems there are more to follow.

None of this is inevitable. The government - a Labour government - is the sole shareholder in the company and ultimately determines how it is run. If they said "no closures" there would be no closures.

There would of course be mutterings about "featherbedding" a "lame duck" business, but the truth is that right now we are actually subsidising a vast closure programme.

Just ask yourself this question - what would you sooner have your taxes spent on? Keeping Post Offices open? Or shutting them down?

Given changing habits (email replacing snail mail for example) and new technology perhaps over time the network would have to reduce - but not at this time and not at this pace.

We are told that much of this change is driven by the EU. Oh really? Then where are the sweeping closure programmes in Spain and Ireland and Italy and Poland?

It's about time our hitherto silent Labour MPs and councillors stood up for a few true Socialist values and told their government we want a Post Office for people - not for profit.

Should there be more opposition to the Post Office closure programme?

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