The Government sell-off of Royal Mail will dramatically weaken the Post Office network, said Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas today as Parliament voted on the Postal Services Bill.
The Green MP co-sponsored a cross-party amendment by Bob Russell MP calling on the Government to ensure the existing inter-business agreement between the Post Office and Royal Mail for ten years in the event of the latter's privatisation - but this was voted down.
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: "Today's vote on the Postal Services Bill signals the end of the Post Office network as we know it. Without any assurance that the privatised Royal Mail will use the Post Office for business, the future of Post Offices up and down the country is plunged into ever more serious doubt.
"This was a real wasted opportunity. The Bill could have been instrumental in creating a formal relationship, for example, between Post Offices and credit unions - to increase awareness of and access to affordable credit. Instead, these reckless plans threaten the local Post Offices which many older people, families and vulnerable people within communities, not to mention small businesses, use for making contact with others, filling out Government forms and accessing key services."
She continued: "According to the Communications Workers Union, over 1,000 UK Post Offices were either closed or put up for sale in 2010. In my Brighton constituency, local closures and relocations are already leaving hundreds without adequate access to this vital public service.
"Thanks to former business secretary Peter Mandelson's efforts, the Labour Government really got the ball rolling on postal liberalisation. Now the Tories and Lib Dems are following suit, selling off key public goods and services to the highest bidder. The Greens are the only party to consistently fight against postal privatisation at every level."