Letter on launch of Conservatives campaign to save post offices

Dear Sir,

Since 1997, the Government has closed 5,000 Post Offices across the country, including 38 in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Now our local Post Offices are once again under threat. The Government has decided that another 2,500 Post Offices must close, so that by 2009 a third of all Post Offices will have to shut their doors. Already hundreds of post offices elsewhere have discovered their fate. This week it will be Bristol and South Gloucestershire's turn to discover which of our Post Offices are due for closure. Residents will then have six weeks to put their case over for why their Post office should remain open.

If these closures take place as planned, thousands of vulnerable people in Bristol and South Gloucestershire will lose a service they depend upon. In deciding to close branches, there has been no real account taken of the needs of the elderly; of disabled people or of the most disadvantaged— the very ones who will lose out most. Post offices are at the heart of communities, with many shops and businesses dependent upon their trade. Once the post office shuts down, they too soon follow.

We need to protect our post offices and the communities that depend upon them. The government should be supporting our post offices through investment in the Post Office network, removing restrictive regulations from Post Office businesses, and reversing the disastrous decision to remove Government business from the Post Office network. Instead, Post Offices should be given more freedom to offer a wider range of business services, while the Post Office should be able work with carriers other than the Royal Mail. The Royal Mail should also be prevented from taking business away from Post Offices by under-cutting the prices they can charge for postage.
To fight these closures, we've launched a campaign to save our post offices. We want as many local people as possible to have their say on why we must keep our Post Offices. That's why we have launched a website and petition, and why we will be submitting a detailed response to the consultation wherever a post office is under threat. We will also be organizing marches to demonstrate how far the elderly and vulnerable will have to walk to their nearest Post Office in future. To join the campaign, sign the petition or find out more, please visit www.savepostoffices.com Our post offices need your support!

Yours sincerely,

Chris Skidmore, Prospective Conservative MP, Kingswood
Charlotte Leslie, Prospective Conservative MP, Bristol North West
Jack Lopresti, Prospective Conservative MP, Filton and Bradley Stoke
Matthew Riddle, Prospective Conservative MP, Thornbury and Yate

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