Campaigning MPs step up support for Post Office fight

Postal April 4 2019

Reading East MP Matt Rodda and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy have stepped up the pressure on the Government to step in and reverse the “driven decline” of our Crown Post Office Network.

Mr Rodda has called for a halt to planned closures in his Constituency, while Ms Nandy has been similarly campaigning in her home town and across the NorthWest Region.

CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey said: “It’s brilliant to have great MPs like Matt Rodda and Lisa Nandy on our side in this ongoing fight.

“They’ve both been joining us on our protests and rallies for a long time – and helping to keep this vital issue high up the social and political agenda.”

Last week, campaigners in the North West won an important victory when the Post Office cancelled plans to axe Kendal Crown Post Office – citing “issues for some of our customers regarding accessibility” at the proposed new location in the town’s branch of the failing retailer WH Smith.

And Mr Rodda is making the same point in regard to the threatened Reading Crown Post Office, highlighting his “concern about the real difficulties that could be faced by the blind and partially-sighted people, people with mobility problems and many other disabilities – and I am calling for proper post office services to be retained.”

Andy Furey says that the Reading East MP is “absolutely right” to make this call, pointing out that, “we need the same logic that applied in Kendal to be applied to all the other Crown Post Offices that are under threat across the country.

“Accessibility issues are a key factor everywhere – it’s the number one concern voiced by residents wherever we’ve been out campaigning and nobody wants these closures or the franchising.

“And that’s why the CWU thanks and appreciates Matt and Lisa and all the other MPs for their much-valued support, as well as all of our members and activists in this struggle to save our Post Office.”