Dan Rogerson MP for North Cornwall

Dan Rogerson MP with residents at Trevone Post Office, which closed last year. The MP wants branches re-opened.

50% more people have difficulty accessing a local post office since Labour came to power in 1997, the government’s own figures have revealed.

Local MP, Dan Rogerson, has demanded that the Government takes local people’s concerns over Post Offices seriously. The government’s ‘Survey of English Housing’ study shows that 10% of people now have problems accessing a Post Office, a 50% rise from 1997. The figure in Cornwall is likely to be significantly higher than the national average, following swingeing programmes of closures under both the last Conservative Government and under Labour.

Commenting, local MP Dan Rogerson said:

“Successive governments’ assaults on the post office network, on which so many people in Cornwall depend, have been a real blight on our communities.

“The Government’s own research now proves that more and more people find themselves some distance away from their nearest branch.

“In that light, it must be right for the Departments of Local Government and of Business, to work together for branches to open. Liberal Democrats have already set out plans which show them how it can be done.

“I have campaigned with residents over the last few years to keep local post offices open. But ministers have approached this with as much reluctance as the last Conservative Government, which shut down 3,500 branches.

“It’s about time this Government took access to local services through the Post Office seriously.”