PRESS RELEASE
Issued by:
Councillor Paula Southwood
Date of Issue: November 7th 2007
Contact number:
07718 582397

BATTLE TO SAVE POST OFFICES IN HESWALL AND SPITAL
‘Closures will have huge impact on vibrancy of local shops'

Wirral South Liberal Democrats are fighting to stop post office closures in Heswall and Spital announced by the Government yesterday.

Across the country 4,000 post offices have already been closed under Labour, 7 of these in Wirral South.

Rob Earl, Local Clatterbridge campaigner commented,

“Post offices play a vital role in our local communities. These closures will hit local people, especially older residents, very hard indeed.”

“Our post office in Spital is situated next to a block of flats that are home to a lot of pensioners. The loss of such a crucial community hub will hit them hard, and will also have a huge impact on the vibrancy of the local shopping centre.”

The Liberal Democrats will be collecting signatures this Saturday for a petition in protest at the threatened closures in Wirral South. This will be added to a national petition, gathered from across all affected areas, to be presented by the Liberal Democrats at Downing Street in the new year.

Paula Southwood, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Wirral South said,

“Labour and Conservative governments have decimated our post office network.”

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a plan to save our local post offices and to open new post offices when needed.”

“Our plan would give a real investment of £2 billion in the post office, increase the services offered at local post office branches, and improve the network so that every community that needs a post office gets one.

“We are the only party with a fully-funded plan to save the post office, give it a long-term future, and not just manage its decline.

“Our plan would see:

• £2 billion invested in the post office network;
• New branches opening where needed;
• Government services continuing to be available at the Post Office;
• The Post Office freed from Royal Mail restrictions to let it develop new business;
• A new legal requirement for the Government for the Government to maintain the local Post Office network.”

Over a number of years the services available at local post offices have been reduced, and this in turn has caused a decline in the number of people using them. Last year the value of services withdrawn by the government equalled £168 million, whilst Post Offices Ltd made an operating loss of £111 million. Labour's current plans include the closure of at least 2,500 more post offices.

Paula Southwood, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Wirral South pictured with Lembit Opik MP,
Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for business, enterprise and regulatory reform.