After a decade of the Labour Government cutting back on the Post office network by removing their services Vince Cable is implementing a better approach in the coalition. Every post office lost affected communities and neighbourhood shopping parades. In Southdown the Mount Road parade lost 15% of its income when the Post office was closed.

The Government has today announced £1.3 billion of funding over the next four years to maintain and modernise the Post Office network. This funding package will reverse the years of decline and secure its long term future. It will ensure that there is no new closure programme – but it will also allow the Post Office to invest, improve its offer and win new revenue streams. It will put the network on a stronger and more sustainable footing. The package averages out at over £330m a year – more than double the subsidy paid to the Post Office for the past two years. A large proportion of the last Government’s funding was spent on closing post offices.  The remaining network of 11,500 Post Office branches is not for sale and there will be no further programme of closures. Now we need the government to enable the Post Office to provide more services.