Wake up and smell the coffee over Post Office Closures say Lib Dems on Regional Assembly

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 14th Sep 2006

The Labour and Tory Groups at East of England Regional Assembly have been roundly attacked by the Liberal Democrats after failing at yesterday's Regional Assembly meeting to agree a practical way forward for the financing of sub post offices.

The Assembly was debating the problems faced by local communities as post offices close. The Liberal Democrats share the concerns of communities across the region and proposed that the only way forward was to find new funding through part privatisation of Royal Mail.

Liberal Democrat Leader Chris White said: 'There is no use in hand-wringing or in imagining that the past can somehow be recovered. Labour has gone where the Tories had been afraid to tread and closed a large number of post offices. The arrival of competition will only make things worse.

'We need to invest in new services and premises so as to give these vital community links a chance of surviving into the latter part of the century.

'The hypocritical opposition of the Tories to private capital and the refusal of Labour to take responsibility for its own policies are disappointing. Those members of the Assembly who voted against our proposals must have some better idea; I am checking my e-mails constantly but they have yet to tell me what their workable alternatives are.'

The Assembly went on to pass a bland motion of regret, offering little practical thinking on a way forward.

ENDS