Elm Row Post Office saved

Welcome news from Post Office today that the Elm Row post office has been saved. From the petitions and letters I had received, this was the proposed closure which drew the biggest opposition, and there were some particularly strong arguments put forward to keep this one open. I'm glad the campaign which I led, with a lot of community support, to keep this open was successful.

Unlike some politicians who have taken what I think is the opportunist view that no post office anywhere should ever close, I have recognised the changing business patterns which have led to the post office doubling its losses, and that is why I have campaigned for the £1.7 billion subsidy which will keep an extra 8500 local post offices open, on top of the 4000 which are commercially viable.

But where there was a good case to keep a local post office open, MPs should make that case and represent their constituents - that's what I did in this case, and I am glad we were successful. I hope that everyone who backed the campaign will now give more business to Elm Row Post Office, to ensure its long term viability.

Anger over the bank bail-out

I had someone at my MP advice surgery this week who was very angry about the bank bail-out - and it was a subject that was raised again at one of my Q & A "meet the public" sessions this weekend (and had also come up in emails during the week). I'm not surprised - the public have a right to be angry. I made this point in my speech in the debate on "Financial Stability" in the House of Commons this week - click here for the text (my speech starts a few paragraphs down.

I think most people realise that the government had to take action to stop a melt-down in the banking system; as I pointed out in my speech, it would be ordinary people, not 'fat cats' who would lose out. But it's also fair to demand that those who pocketed millions as a result of the way they ran their banks over the last few years shouldn't be able to benefit from the recovery plans - and if big bonus payments are the reward for success, isn't time for those who got them to pay them back?

(Good article in today's Guardian about the advantages of the mutual sector e.g. the building societies).