Post Office closures isolate rural communities - Lord Brookeborough

The subject of rural Post Offices and the impact of their closures was raised in the House of Lords by Fermanagh peer Viscount Brookeborough.

He was responding to a statement from the House of Commons which indicated that The Post Office was seeking to close 115 branches across the UK, known as crown post offices which it centrally owns. The Post Office is expected to maintain a total network of 11,500 branches, which are franchises across the UK.

Viscount Brookeborough stated: "The withdrawal of some of these post offices through closures hits the most vulnerable people in rural communities.

"It is no good saying that this will be coped with; withdrawal means that many people will not have these services available."

He highlighted the withdrawal of services as a significant blow to vulnerable populations, particularly in areas where alternatives are scarce in a debate on November 18.

The Viscount referenced a previous inquiry into financial services, noting that assurances had been made that post offices would step in to support small businesses after widespread bank closures.

“I was on an inquiry to do with financial services a few years ago. When bank branches were closing, we were assured that post offices would be able to do the banking job for small businesses.

“Nobody really knew what was going on at the time but they were told that they would have to cope. We are, however, now closing post offices. Talking of consultation, we asked every bank whether they had consulted and they said yes. We could not find one branch that was not closed as a result of consultation, yet there is simply nobody who will say that local financial services should be closed.”

Viscount Brookeborough underscored the effects of these closures, telling the chamber: “This is very serious because the banks and the Post Office are bouncing off each other and reducing services one by one. It is unacceptable.”