A letter to Mr Brown from a Betrayed Kirkcaldy sub-postmaster. Plus Jessica Morden MP a prime example of double standards

Dear Mr Brown

The other morning at 8.05am, I was sitting doing some paperwork before opening and I saw an old man through the frosted glass of the front door of my post office, reading the newly posted closure notice in the window.

‘See this bloody Government,’ I heard him mutter angrily, as he finished reading the poster stating that my branch was one of 2,500 in the UK designated for closure and if, within six weeks, a valid reason is not produced for its retention, then its fate will be sealed.

My elderly customer is right.

Your Government is entirely to blame for this debacle but, worse than that, for the people of Kirkcaldy, Fife, the architect of these post office closures is you – our own MP – who came up with the brilliant cost-cutting idea as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

If you were standing before me now, I would say to you: ‘Shame on you for turning your back on your constituents.’

I have seen you only twice in the street outside my post office in Pathhead – once on Election day when you were waving at the voters going into the polling station across the road and the other when you were opening a carers’ centre further along.

That was just after the last round of post office closures and I remember putting up a ‘Save Your Post Office’ poster in my window specially for your visit.

I have no idea whether you noticed it or not before you got back into your gas-guzzling Range Rover, but at least I felt as if I’d done something.

Of course, I appreciate you are now the Prime Minister but that does not mean you should forget the needs of the people who put you in power and you really should start looking closer to home.

After all, this is where you grew up and your father was a minister at St Bryce’s Church in the town for many years.

Your family is part of the fabric of Kirkcaldy.

In fact, you play upon that fact, constantly mentioning your association with the town.

You even find the time to make regular appearances at your beloved Raith Rovers football matches.

So why have you got it so wrong on this issue?

Your constituency agent Alec Rowley paid a sudden visit to me two weeks ago after being notified by the Post Office that my branch was earmarked for closure.

He stood in front of me and asked me to give him a good reason why my branch should stay open.

I asked him to give me a good reason why it should close.

He did not know what to say except that we would have to ‘work something out’ and he’d get back to me.

Your office finally made contact again three days ago, on the morning of the official announcement.

Obviously, I had made an impression – the call was not to discuss the next steps I could take to save my branch, but merely to ask my name.

Mr Brown, you have indicated that you will not be one of the growing ranks of Ministers who claim to support the closure policy but are campaigning against specific branches shutting in their own constituencies.

It’s up to your conscience if you join those hypocrites or not – but these closures were YOUR idea.

And I am certain you will lose a lot of votes because of it.

Of course, you will trot out the same things...that it’s to make the Post Office more profitable, etc.

But it was the Labour Government who took away the profits from us in the first place.

They took all the money from the Post Office when it was doing well.

Then they subsidised it and took profits of around 90 per cent back.

Then they decided they wouldn’t do it any more and said it was on its own.

My sub-post office has been here for 80 years.

One of my customers is 85 and remembers coming in as a young girl with her mother.

There have been only three sub-postmasters in that entire time.

I’ve been here since 1989 and all I want is to be allowed to continue to serve the public.

Over the years, I’ve seen the service eroded by people more interested in profit than customer care.

Post offices that are not part of a supermarket or a newsagents are not wanted any more by the bean counters.

It has all come down to a numbers game.

It’s like Russian roulette and even if my branch is saved, it simply means that another in the town will replace us on the blacklist.

I am devastated for my customers.

They are not being put first and, in fact, many will be worse off, particularly the older ones.

A lot of them are coming in saying: ‘It’s a sin, we need you.’

All I have been told is that I’m being closed down because there is another post office within a mile of mine.

But there is no direct bus route between this area and the other post office, which is in a supermarket and often has queues of 45 minutes’ waiting time or more – and that’s before this closure plan was announced.

If I need to give justification for my post office to remain open, it would be this – that the public deserve a first-class service not a second-class one.

Their excuses for closure are lame in many cases where sales figures speak for themselves.

Ironically, the day after I was told I was closing, I was given an award by the Post Office for sales of travel insurance.

These latest closures are just another attack on ordinary people, who are already struggling under a barrage of rising fuel prices and increasing household bills.

I would say to all customers of post offices under threat to fill in the feedback forms available at the relevant branches and send them back in.

Please don’t organise a petition because it will be disregarded.

In my experience, petitions don’t always work and if people object individually it will have far more effect and might actually make a difference.

And I would say to you, Mr Brown, that you are not looking after your constituents.

You are not representing the interests of the people who had faith in you when they voted for you as our local MP.

I don’t care whether you are Prime Minister or not, Mr Brown – You have betrayed your own town and the people you serve.

Yours in disgust

Andrew Ross

Sub-postmaster at Pathhead Post Office in Kirkcaldy, Fife

**There you go, classic proof that a party that claims to represent the interests of the workers and local communities is doing no such thing at all.

The attitude of New Labour politicians saying one thing and doing another does'nt stop with Mr Brown, indeed one of the Labour MP's here in Newport was out to "save" a local post office and then voted for the government to carry on culling post offices.

Here we see from her site the local MP offering to help to save the Christchurch Road, post office from closure.. See also her speaking in The Commons.

In her comments she thanks the local paper:

"...and also to the Argus for its excellent coverage of the campaign."

However after her vote for the governments cull, they had this to say about her:

NEWPORT East MP Jessica Morden defended her decision to back the government and vote against a Conservative motion to halt the closure of post offices.

The Christchurch Road post office, Newport, was handed a reprieve last week when Post Office Ltd decided against initial proposals to make it one of more than 20 earmarked for closure in Gwent.

Letters to the Argus branded Ms Morden a "hypocrite" for giving her public support to saving Christchurch Road and then voting against the motion to halt the closing process of other branches in the House of Commons last Wednesday.

One letter from M.R Mayo read: "No wonder politicians are held in such low esteem. It's what I call being 'two-faced'".

Another, from Carmel Townsend, wife of Newport Liberal Democrat councillor Ed Townsend, said: "It is disgraceful that she should have been seen to back people in their quest to keep this business open, while voting against a Conservative motion to halt the process of closure."

Ms Morden said she believed Post Office Ltd losing an estimated £4 million a w:eek meant there was no option but to close several offices. - Unless its in your area, then it is and I quote your own words here:

"I'm absolutely delighted the Post Office has listened to the strong case put by local residents and politicians and has reprieved Christchurch Road. Access to other branches is limited and its closure would have left the area without this service and would have put the shop at risk.

I posted before about her double standards: here
Mind you the good people of Newport might be interested in the fact that our MP cares not a fig for the people she claims to represent and has never, not one time, ever voted against the government(one to remember come polling day): Link.

That said she also was the PPS(Parliamentary Private Secretary) - for the shifty Peter Hain - the question arises and I have heard no one ask this, quite what did Ms Morden know of Peters dubious policy forum which he used as a slush fund.

After all it would be a poor secretary who did not have a detailed working knowledge of her boss's job?....

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