Morgan welcomes SNP stance on Post Office Card Account

Morgan welcomes SNP stance on Post Office Card Account

Loss of contract could close 350 Post Offices

SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, Alasdair Morgan today (Tuesday) welcomed the decision of SNP National Council to call upon the UK Government to ensure that Post Office is awarded the contract for the successor to the Post Office Card Account, currently out to tender.

Fears have been expressed that if the Post Office do not get the contract there will be another round of substantial post office closures, the National Federation of Sub Postmasters predict around 350 in Scotland alone.

Mr Morgan said:

“The tender only specifies that the successful bidder must have a network of at least 10,000 outlets, but there is no requirement for there to be a significant number of rural outlets. Only the Post Office has enough outlets to be able to offer a service covering both urban and rural areas.

“The current Post Office Card Account is the only financial service available in many rural areas and is also vital income for many sub post offices. If the Post Office were to loose this contract it would be the death knell of many more sub post offices and we would face yet another round of savage cuts.

“The UK Government was directly responsible for the current mess by removing benefit and pension payments from the Post Office. The Card Account was an attempt to arrest that decline and if it was now to go it would spell disaster.

“In August this region will have its turn in undergoing the closures review. It remains to be seen which branches will be recommended for closure and which will be saved. What is certain however is that the Labour government has already damaged the Post Office network enough over the years through its policy, intentional or not, of death by a thousand cuts.

“The Labour government needs to decide what it thinks rural Post Offices are for, and having done so, support them by not removing any further services than they have lost already.”