Release: 3 June 2004

Assembly Member vows to fight Labour’s Post Office closures

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, has vowed to fight every one of the proposed Post Office closures in Swansea and Gower, which, he says, are a direct result of Labour Government policy.

Mr. Black was reacting to an announcement that will see 16 sub-Post Offices close across the Swansea area from Cwmbwrla and Port Tennant to Kingsbridge, Newton, Sketty Park and Upper Loughor. The closures are part of the Post Office’s reinvention programme designed to cut costs so as to bring the network back into profit. It is a direct response to the Labour Government policy of paying pensions and benefits directly into bank accounts that has seen most Post Offices lose up to 40% of their business.

“These Post Office closures will devastate the communities they serve,” said Mr. Black. “They will leave many pensioners, in particular, stranded and with a strenuous and often impossible journey to the nearest alternative branch. The Labour Government has reclassified sub-Post Offices as a business, but in doing so they are forgetting that these branches have an important social and community role as well. Most of the areas that are losing their Post Office have large elderly populations who rely on the services offered. These people have been cast adrift by Labour.”

“Labour politicians will no doubt seek to blame the Post Office for these proposals. However, the Post Office is trying to manage its network within constraints imposed on it by a Labour Government. In particular they are faced with a massive loss of income because of changes to the way that pensions and benefits are paid. The proposal to close 16 Swansea Post Offices is a direct consequence of that Labour policy. These closures must be fought tooth and nail because people depend on them and because we must not allow a Westminster Labour Government to undermine our communities in this way.”

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