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HOME SEC SMITH LOOKS BOTH WAYS ON P.O. CLOSURE

20-03-2008

Home Secretary and Redditch MP Jacqui Smith voted in favour of the government’s Post Office closure programme last night – despite campaigning against the loss of her local branches.  The row saw the biggest rebellion of the Brown Premiership.

Smith gave her backing to an ultimately unsuccessful battle to save the Abbeydale and Batchley sub-branches, but predictably trooped through the lobby on the government side – helping defeat a Conservative motion calling for a halt to the planned closure of 2,500 Post Offices.

Former ministers Kate Hoey and Frank Field were among 19 Labour MPs who supported the Tories – but Labour clung on by 20 votes.

Is Jacqui Smith a hypocrite?  Leave a comment on the Stirrer Forum.