Post Office closures could cost £400m

2.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 13th Nov 2006

Research undertaken by the Liberal Democrats shows that the cost of potential cuts to the Post Office network could be at least £400m.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, Edward Davey MP said "The Government has presided over a decimation of the Post Office network. Now it seems their solution to 'stabilise' the Post Office will involve an expensive programme of thousands more branch closures, bringing hardship and financial exclusion to millions."

Mr. Davey added "This is a massive amount of money, being spent on something that is not needed and frankly is an act of vandalism on a massive scale, wreaking havoc on rural and suburban communities. The actual cost is likely to be even higher because our research does not take account of inflation."