Opposition Day — [20th Allotted Day] — Post Office Card Account — 10 Nov 2008 at 21:49

I beg to move,

That this House notes with concern the fact that the Department for Work and Pensions has written to Post Office card account holders informing them that the Post Office card account contract ends in 2010; further notes that Post Office card account holders, many of whom have made a conscious decision to support the Post Office by retaining their card account, are being instructed to take out bank accounts in order to receive benefits beyond 2010; expresses its dismay at the fact that the letter does not mention the fact that a replacement for the current card account is currently out to tender, or make any mention of other Post Office products or services; believes that this is a deliberate attempt to encourage people to switch payment to direct debit and remove the role of the Post Office; further notes the additional damage inflicted on the Post Office by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, which is currently sending out licence renewal reminders as part of a communications campaign which makes no mention of the Post Office; calls on Ministers in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to encourage Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions to consider the impact on communities across the country if the Post Office card account is not renewed; and encourages all Government departments to make their services available through post offices in order to ensure that they have a viable future.

I beg to move, To leave out from "House" to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:

"notes the importance of the services offered by the Post Office to local communities; further notes that the Government has worked with the Post Office to make available services such as its own banking and financial services and access to high street banks' basic accounts; further notes that the Post Office is now the largest provider of foreign exchange in the UK and amongst the largest suppliers of travel insurance, car insurance and telephone services; further notes the potential for future ID management business for the Post Office for passports, driving licences and ID cards; welcomes the commitment of the Government to provide £1.7 billion of support up to 2011 to maintain a national post office network and access to Post Office products, in contrast to no subsidy before 1997; further notes the importance of the Post Office card account in helping people to access basic banking services; welcomes the decision to offer this type of product beyond 2010; further notes that this product is currently out to tender; and believes that people should be aware of the Post Office card account product alongside other methods of payment.".

Question put accordingly, That the original words stand part of the Question:-

The House divided: Ayes 240, Noes 278.

Debate in Parliament | Source |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Con0 163084.5%
Independent0 3060.0%
Lab277 (+2 tell) 7182.0%
LDem0 57 (+2 tell)093.7%
PC0 30100.0%
SNP0 5071.4%
UKIP0 10100.0%
Total:277 239183.8%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
Katy ClarkNorth Ayrshire and ArranLab (minister)aye
Jeremy CorbynIslington NorthLabaye
Kate HoeyVauxhallLab (minister)aye
Kelvin HopkinsLuton NorthLab (minister)aye
Linda RiordanHalifaxLab (minister)aye
Alan SimpsonNottingham SouthLabaye
Paul TruswellPudseyLabaye
David TaylorNorth West LeicestershireLab (minister)both

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