Post Office Closures — Deep concern — rejected — 15 May 2002 at 18:57

The majority of MPs voted against the motion:^[1]

• This House
• is deeply concerned that, with 10 months left for the transition to automatic credit transfer for the Post Office's 16 million benefit and pension customers, there is great uncertainty and confusion hanging over the network;
• believes that, in the absence of new sources of income to replace the lost £400 million, many post offices will close, including a third of all urban post offices;
• is alarmed by reports that new initiatives promised under the PIU Report are failing, in particular that the Your Guide programme is being downgraded and that planning of the Post Office Card Account is well behind schedule;
• has little confidence that the commercial banks have the ability or motivation to meet the financial needs of many of those Post Office customers expected to migrate to the use of bank accounts;
• notes that the network's problems coincide with growing losses in Consignia and the threat to its mail services and to the universal service obligation; and
• calls on the Government to set out a clear policy and timetable for heading off a potentially disastrous collapse of the rural and urban network.

This motion was replaced by one which read:^[2]

• This House
• applauds the Government's decision to accept all 24 of the PIU recommendations in its June 2000 report "Counter Revolution-Modernising the Post Office Network";^[3]
• notes that Consignia is committed to preventing avoidable closures of rural post offices and has drawn up a code of conduct on how this is to be implemented in conjunction with the consumer watchdog, Postwatch;
• further applauds the decision of the Government to grant the greater commercial freedom to Consignia that management and unions had long called for;
• welcomes the action of the Government in appointing a new chairman of Consignia and a new chief executive of Post Office Ltd. and to enshrine in legislation the primary duty of the regulator to preserve the universal service;
• further applauds the commitment of the Government to a national network of post offices; and
• further notes the commitment by Post Office Ltd. to ensure that 95 per cent. of people in urban areas will live within a mile of a post office, and the majority within half a mile.

which passed without a vote.

• [1] Vincent Cable MP, House of Commons, 15 May 2002
• [2] Douglas Alexander MP, House of Commons, 15 May 2002
• [3] Counter Revolution - Modernising the Post Office Network, Performance and Innovation Unit, June 2000

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | Source |