Listening Brown should halt post office closures

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 5th May 2008

Just before detailed proposals for closing North East Post Offices are announced, Gordon MP, Malcolm Bruce, has called on the Prime Minister to fulfil his claim to be listening in the wake of Labour's disastrous local election results and abandon the plans.

Mr Bruce explained, "At Prime Minister's questions last week, Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, called on the Prime Minister to stop post office closures. All the Prime Minister could say that fewer people were using post offices.

"Well, of course they are. Thousands of offices have closed and millions of people have been forced to collect benefits and purchase services elsewhere than their local post offices.

"In a couple of weeks the North East will receive notice of potential closures of many of our local offices whether in Aberdeen, country town or rural areas. This will devastate small shops and make life difficult for many people such as pensioners, mothers with children and anyone lacking transport.

"Liberal Democrats have put forward proposals which I helped develop to invest in post offices and increase the range of services they provide. I am tabling a motion in the House of Commons calling on the Prime Minister and his Business Secretary, John Hutton, to prove they are listening and act now before it is too late."

ENDS

the text of the Parliamentary Motion as follows:

North East Scotland Post Office closures

That this House notes that by the end of this month the Post Office will publish details of the post offices in the North East of Scotland it is proposing to close and calls on the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to recognise the damage these closures cause, the scale of the resentment across the UK at similar closures, prove they are listening, halt the closure plan and develop alternative proposals to invest in the network and increase the range of services available through local post offices.