In a fiery public meeting in Parliament, Daisy Cooper, MP for St Albans, slammed Post Office bosses for inviting expressions of interest from sub-postmasters to take over some of the post office services at risk of closure, without actually telling the sub-posters, MPs or public what services they would be required to provide.
This means that there are no guarantees that all of the services currently provided by the branch will continue, and no guarantees that the location would remain the same.
A group of cross-party MPs grilled Post Office bosses on this for 90 minutes, on Tuesday 4 February, and after repeated questioning forced them to admit the farcical situation.
Daisy Cooper, MP for St Albans, said:
“This was yet another infuriating meeting with Post Office bosses where they failed to answer the questions we put to them, and couldn’t guarantee that there won’t be a reduction in service. When we MPs last met them in December, they promised to come to this meeting to set out the criteria against which they would assess whether, or how, to keep or change the services or location of existing post office branches.
“Without those criteria, MPs are unable to engage in a meaningful conversation about getting the best deal for our residents.
“Post Office bosses say that every single one of the sites at risk of closure, including the St Peter’s Street branch in St Albans, has received an application of interest, however it’s possible that these applications could come to nought if it turns out they can’t meet the service requirements – but those requirements haven’t even been set out.
“At the same time, the Post Office still intends to continue with setting the criteria in early March and then judging the bids against them in the same month. Having sat on their hands for the last two months it’s simply unacceptable that they now intend to charge ahead in a matter of weeks, without discussion of what the post office service on offer could look like.
“We have told Post Office bosses that we expect them to come back to answer our questions again – but only once they’ve shared with us the service requirements for each of our areas and before they put their rushed proposals out for public consultation.”