Esther McVey, Parliamentary Spokes person for Wirral West today reacted with grave concern at Government plans to close 2,500 Post Offices across the country, on top of the 4,000 already shut since 1999.

Since 1999, Wirral has lost 26 Post Office’s in all our communities, further cuts starting next summer could potentially mean the closure of another 8 to 10 Post Offices, from the current level of 51.

Miss McVey said, “Post offices are the lifeblood of Wirral’s community, they are not just places where people buy stamps and collect their pensions. For many of the most vulnerable in our society the visit to their local Post Office can sometimes be their only point of contact.”

Esther continued, “These cuts will hit the vulnerable and the elderly the hardest. Labour Ministers need to recognise that if the local Post Office closes, often the last shop in the vicinity closes as well, and a van for a couple of hours a week is no replacement for a Post Office open full time.

Conservatives have called for Sub-Post Offices to be given greater freedoms to offer a wider range of commercial products and are pushing for more Post Offices to be ‘one stop shops’ for central government services.

“The Government needs to understand the importance of the Post Office’s valuable social role and must end this damaging closure programme now”, added Esther.