Threatened Post Office Closures

The motion

That the Parliament is deeply concerned at Her Majesty’s Government’s proposals to reduce the number of post offices in Scotland from 1,664 in December 2006, two-thirds of which are in rural and island communities, by upwards of 200 by 2009; is aware that in Cunninghame North, Kilmory Post Office on the Island of Arran has already closed this year and that, according to Hansard, 16 of the remaining 23 in the constituency are under threat; recognises that Her Majesty’s Government’s action in recent years has directly contributed towards the reduction in post office numbers by removing vital services essential for their economic viability such as pensions, benefits, television licences and soon driving licences, while diverting much of its own business from the Royal Mail to the private sector; acknowledges that post offices provide a vital social, as well as economic, service often to very vulnerable people, at the heart of large and small communities alike; notes that Postwatch Scotland, responding to the recent Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) consultation, stated that the DTI did not take Scotland’s special circumstances into account as its proposals “seem to have been prepared without any consideration of the Scottish Executive’s policy framework on rural development, social inclusion and sustainable development”; opposes the threat to the Universal Service Obligation, and believes that the Executive should express its opposition to further post office closures in the strongest possible terms and take practical steps where possible to ameliorate Her Majesty’s Government’s action by channelling Executive business towards the Royal Mail, enhancing the post office card account and using it as a basis for community banking, working with local authorities to support post offices as part of rural and urban development projects, improving post office access to European small business funding and establishing a rural community action programme similar to that provided by the Welsh Assembly Government.


No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 19 Con 2 Green 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S3M-00047 by reference.