Welsh Lib Dems pledge multi-million fund to save our Post Offices

7.28.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 2nd Apr 2007

Welsh Liberal Democrats will promise a fairer future for post offices today as leaders Mike German and Lembit Opik hit the road at the start of their election tour around Wales.

Chepstow is the target for the first day of the tour, which will visit each of Wales's electoral regions every week during April. They will be at the recently closed Bulwark Post Office with Cllr Jacqui Sullivan (candidate for Monmouth), Cllr Phyl Hobson (regional candidate) and local campaigners.

Mike German said: "The closure of post offices under consecutive Conservative and Labour governments is one of the tragedies of modern life in Britain. Through neglect and poor choices, a network that used to be at the heart of every community is slowly being contracted and shrunk.

"That's why Welsh Liberal Democrats are campaigning to restore the Post Office Development Fund at this election. In the first Assembly - in Partnership Government - we introduced the PODF. Some 106 post offices benefited from the fund, investing more than £4m in just two years. We will show that kind of commitment again in the next Assembly."

Lembit Opik added: "In urban and rural areas, many people are feeling the loss of their local post office. Everyone - particularly pensioners - having to travel further to access post office services is a major inconvenience. The Welsh Liberal Democrats introduced the PODF, and they will bring it back."

Notes

The Post Office Development Fund was introduced during the partnership government and ran from Nov 2002-July 2004. Some £4.1m was invested in 106 post offices across Wales. It was suspended by the Labour Assembly Government, who have opposed Welsh Liberal Democrat attempts to re-open it.