8:40am Saturday 19th July 2008
By Michael Pickard
Watford MP Claire Ward has launched a scathing attack on the town’s “two-faced” Liberal Democrats for their “hypocritical” response to proposed post office closures.
Branches in Bushey Mill Lane, Queens Road and Leavesden Road are among 41 to face the axe across Buckinghamshire, South Hertfordshire and South Essex, as part of the company’s plan to shut 2,500 outlets across the country.
The announcement four weeks ago led to protests by Liberal Democrat councillors and supporters outside the Bushey Mill Lane outlet.
However, the MP has now claimed the Liberal Democrats ignored two invitations to discuss the cut backs, weeks before the proposals were made public, and then launched a campaign against the closures as part of a “cynical public relations exercise” aimed at discrediting the public consultation, which ends on July 28.
Ms Ward said: “This shows just how two-faced the Liberal Democrats are. They were given plenty of opportunity by Royal Mail to object to the proposed closures but hypocritically waited until the public announcement before launching their protest campaign.
“I know that sub post offices perform a valuable service – often for the most vulnerable members of our community – and no one wants to condone closures. I have already asked Royal Mail officials to fully explain the reasons for the closures.
“It seems to me that Watford Council also had plenty of opportunity to put the case for one or two of the sites remaining open, but for purely political reasons decided not to do so. No wonder local politics has got such a bad name.”
However, Sal Brinton, the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary candidate, claimed Ms Ward knew about the proposals six weeks before they were announced, a fact Ms Ward denies and said she was only told the weekend before the public consultation began.
Ms Brinton said: “She knew which post offices were under threat and was told not to release any information. The rest of us are working completely blind.
“For her to say we were not doing anything about it is a travesty of truth.”
Ms Brinton said her campaign against the closures started in February, when she began collecting petitions, and that she was involved in cross-party talks at Hertfordshire County Council.
She said: “We would restructure the way the Post Office works. It’s got one hand tied behind its back. The Post Office would lose less if it was allowed to do more.
“It’s rich for the only person in Watford who had prior knowledge to say we don’t start campaigning soon enough.”
Watford Mayor Dorothy Thornhill admitted the council had ignored the meetings, but said it did not want to take part in a “sham consultation”.
She said: “We believe it’s a sham consultation but we will fight for what we believe is best for local people, not attend meetings where people try to persuade us it’s the best thing to do.
“That would blunt our sword. We want to campaign on closures that affect our community.”
The post office network lost more than £200 million in 2006/7, and there are four million fewer customer visits every week than two years ago.
A representative said: “Post Office Ltd’s aim is to continue to provide essential services and support retail businesses and the local economy in as many communities as possible, subject to the minimum access criteria set by the Government.”
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