Stop the Post Office Closures

Danny Alexander MP & Cllr Janet Campbell Campaigning to Save local Post Offices

Highland Lib Dem MPs have demanded that the government award the contract for the successor to the Post Office card account to the Post Office.

Mr Alexander went to Number 10 Downing Street on the 27th August to present postcards in support of the demand, signed by over 1200 people from his Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituents. The cards were collected by local Postmasters in communities across the constituency, including Inverness, Nairn, Grantown on Spey, Newtonmore, Fort Augustus and Drumnadrochit. Pictures of Mr Alexander handing the petitions in are available from Nick Davies on 020 7219 2300.

The Post Office card account is used by 5 million people across Britain - including 8000 in the Highlands to collect pensions. The current contract runs out in 2010, and the government has so far refused to commit to the replacement being provided through the Post Office.

Mr Alexander said:

"The future Post Office card account is critical both for people themselves, and for the future of post offices.

"Thousands of people in the Highlands have chosen to use the Post Office to collect their pensions and other payments using the card. They have made this decision for good reasons, often in the face of substantial bureaucratic barriers, and the government needs to allow them to continue to do so.

"In many communities, the Post Office is the only place where people can access cash and other services. That is why Post Offices are so essential to the future of many communities.

"Mr Brown's government still totally fails to grasp the importance of Post Offices. If they take the card account away from the Post Office, it will sound the death knell for around 3000 post offices that rely on this business for their survival. That would be a disaster for those communities.

"I am delighted that so many people across Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey have signed these postcards. I hope the government takes notice of this strong display of public opinion, and I will continue to fight very hard indeed to persuade the government to do the right thing for card account users and Post Offices alike."

Please have your say by signing our petition