Blair defends Post Office plans
Post offices are struggling to survive following the withdrawal of services
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Wednesday, 18, Oct 2006 02:58
Tony Blair has defended the government's policy on the Post Office as subpostmasters deliver a petition to Downing Street.
A delegation from the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) handed over the petition, signed by four million people, this afternoon, urging the government to safeguard the future of the country's post office network.
Representatives were due to meet with the prime minister to seek clarification over the government's future plans for the network, as post offices in some rural areas struggle to survive as certain contracted services are withdrawn.
Speaking on the subject during prime minister's questions this afternoon, Mr Blair said that the government will help to keep post offices running but that "there is a limit" to how much money can be provided.
Members of the NFSP have been gathering in Westminster today to lobby parliament as part of a campaign to highlight concerns over the loss of income resulting from the withdrawal of key contracts.
They include the planned phasing out of the Post Office Card Account (POCA), which the federation claims is used by millions of people to access their pensions and benefits and which generates around ten per cent of subpostmasters' income.
In addition to calling for the retention of the POCA, subpostmasters are also pressing for further measures to create a "sustainable" post office network, including a "thorough" assessment of the social and economic role played by post offices and the use of branches to deliver government and council services.
Opposition parties and some MPs have joined the calls to retain the POCA, which is due to be phased out by 2010, but Mr Blair refused to give ground on the issue today.
"There's a process of change that any government has to handle in this situation," he said in the Commons today.
"We will look at the options but I can't say there will be even more money available…there is a limit on the amount of money we can put in."
According to the postal services watchdog, Postwatch, the number of post office branches fell from 18,393 in 1999 to 14,376 in 2005, despite the government granting an annual £150 million subsidy until 2008.
NFSP general secretary Colin Baker, who delivered the petition this afternoon, said it is "crunch time for the post office network and the nation's subpostmasters".
"The 28 million customers who use the Post Office every week are confused as to what the government wants of the network and of the people who run it – we believe that the time is now overdue for ministers to decide," he said.