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Drew rebels against post office closures
STROUD MP David Drew rebelled against the Government's post office closures in House of Commons vote.
Mr Drew, who joined a revolt of 20 Labour MPs on Wednesday, March 19, said the postal service should have state subsidises.
But he suggested community funding to save the five threatened branches in the Stroud District.
"I voted with the Tory motion against the Government," said the Labour MP.
"I feel that post offices are a key part of the community, but they're particularly important in rural places.
"The vote didn't sort out anything but the Government is aware of the strength of feeling."
Mr Drew said post offices could be supported by key sources of finance in communities, including councils, the police or even the probation service.
"Communities can keep their post offices open, whether it's the pub, the post office, or the shop - or sometimes all three working together," he explained.
"Sometimes branches may also go into village schools."
Mr Drew praised the work of volunteer-run shops that are attached to branches, such as North Nibley Post Office and Chalford Post Office.
He said he would soon meet with post office officials and would look 'very carefully' at the Uplands branch.
He has also sent his research on the impacts on the closures to post office officials and postal regulator Postwatch.
The Government plans to close 2,500 post offices nationwide to stop the network making losses.
10:31am Wednesday 26th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: Terry, Ebley on 11:22am Wed 26 Mar 08
Well done David, but the travesty of sad MPs like Dhanda trooping obediently into Brown's lobby in defiance of their constituents jsut shows how much more use psot offices could be if we scrapped MPs and did all voting for every measure via eVoting machines in post offices. Save the cost of Parliament and keep post offices profitable by paying them for the machine spaces.
Well done David, but the travesty of sad MPs like Dhanda trooping obediently into Brown's lobby in defiance of their constituents jsut shows how much more use psot offices could be if we scrapped MPs and did all voting for every measure via eVoting machines in post offices. Save the cost of Parliament and keep post offices profitable by paying them for the machine spaces.
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