There was NO vote on post office closures in parliament!

The Conservatives only suggested a delay to allow local councils to step in- but have not promised a penny more in subsidy. The Conservative Central HQ Campaign Pack on Post Offices makes only two serious suggestions: 1) that they ‘get in early to prevent the Liberal Democrats from making the running’, and 2) only suggests that they ask local councils to take over some offices.

The Tories accept the need for Post Office closures. In the Opposition debate on 19 March 2008, their spokesman Alan Duncan said;

o ‘’We have to face facts about the future of the postal offices in this country’’
o ‘’We understand that the Post Office is haemorrhaging around £4million a week’’.
o ‘’Let me make it clear that we fully expect the network to shrink in size’’
o ‘’It must be admitted that the internet has displaced much of the revenue-earning activity preciously enjoyed by post offices’’

The Conservative motion would not have stopped the closure programme. They proposed no alternative which would change the facts facing the Post Office network and in fact lengthy delay would have ended up costing more money as it would have delayed the Post Office from addressing the losses affecting the network week in week out.

During the opposition day debate on the 19 March, in response to Martin Salter MP, asking him to;

‘’…give an undertaking on behalf of his party to put £1.7 billion of investment into the network so it can be sustained…’’

Conservative spokesman Alan Duncan replied; “I will not do that”