Securing the future of our Post Offices in Dudley & the Black Country
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Chris Kelly, MP for Dudley South, has welcomed the news of a 10-year deal between Royal Mail and the Post Office, securing the future of services without resorting to the failed closures programme which dominated Labour’s time in government.
The deal follows the Government’s other measures to protect Post Office services including additional funding, new local and national contracts, a successful piloting scheme to transform many local post offices and improvements in the services offered.
Commenting, Chris Kelly MP said:
“In opposition Conservatives campaigned tirelessly to overturn Labour’s cuts to our Post Offices, which saw them close over 6,500 in a decade. The Government’s announcement means the future of the Post Office is secured guaranteeing this valuable service for millions of people.”
· More than 6,500 post offices closed in a decade under Labour.Between March 2000 and March 2010, a total of 6,573 post offices were closed. This included 3,777 urban post offices and 2,796 rural post offices (House of Commons Library, 5 December 2011, link).
· Securing the future of the Post Office with £1.34 billion in additional Government funding.Ed Davey, Postal Affairs Minister, confirmed that ‘this government have been clear that there will be no programme of post office closures, and is providing £1.34 billion of funding over the spending review period to 2015 to modernise the Post Office network and to secure its future. As part of that funding, Post Office Ltd must maintain the network at around its current size with at least 11,500 branches’ (Hansard, 28 November 2011).
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