North East Somerset Lib Dem, Gail Coleshill today condemned the Tories for trying to save face on Post Office closures by calling for a Parliamentary motion to suspend the recent closure programme so that it can be re-assessed.

“I can’t think how they've got the nerve when under their Government 3500 post offices closed. And unlike the Lib Dems they have no sensible options to offer the Government to make Post Office Ltd more financially viable.

“Lib Dems have campaigned against post office closures for years nationally, valuing them for their great worth to the community – and we have presented the Government with a solution for commercial viability.

I have just returned from collecting signatures against the closure at Farmborough post office, a rural post office in a village where that is the only shop. If the post office goes then the shop is in danger of closing. People in Farmborough, many of them elderly, rely on their post office and cannot get to the next nearest one in Timsbury easily. Many do not have cars and the bus service is a joke.”

Lib Dem plans to allow the PO to trade without restrictions and to establish a shared ownership scheme would enable Post Office Ltd to invest in village post offices.