Post Office closures

Last week the Government narrowly avoided the embarrassment of losing a vote to suspend its planned closure of 2,500 sub-post offices and saw its majority reduced to just 20.

The Conservatives had put forward a motion in the House of Commons calling for the closure to be halted. As Conservative Shadow Business Secretary, Alan Duncan, commented after the vote, the resultant reduction in Labour's 67-strong majority was "astonishing" and demonstrated the strength of feeling that surrounds this controversial programme of closures.

In the vote at least 19 Labour MPs supported the Conservatives' motion, with one stating that this was the only option left open to them to stop or suspend the closures. Sadly Bob Blizzard, Labour MP for Waveney was not one of their number. Instead he chose to ignore the views of his constituents, who will bear the brunt of these closures. Despite campaigning in November to keep open the Flixton Road Post Office in Bungay, he backed the continuation of the closure programme.

Whilst the motion was unfortunately lost, the debate did expose those Labour MPs who, like Bob Blizzard, pretend to support their constituents at home only to perform a complete U-turn when in Westminster. As such the Waveney MP has missed an important opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of the people that he represents.