Post office closures, UKIP Henley

Alex McKee · 06-06-2008, 04:09 PM

UKIP candidate Chris Adams spent this Friday morning highlighting the reason for post office closures.

UKIP Henley | The real reason for Post Office closures

If you are a member of Digg, please digg the story there to help us promote the site:
Digg - The real reason for Post Office closures

Anthony Butcher · 06-06-2008, 10:21 PM

The EU Referendum blog claims that this is nonsense:
EU Referendum: Not us, Guv!

there is a follow up article which does add an EU element:
EU Referendum: Now you can blame the EU

eublues · 07-06-2008, 04:38 PM

The UKIP version of events sounds about right to me - and nicely put. We know there is the usual element of UK government gold plating added in.

Alex McKee · 07-06-2008, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eublues

The UKIP version of events sounds about right to me - and nicely put. We know there is the usual element of UK government gold plating added in.

I agree. I've been researching it over the past few days as my interest has been piqued by this subject and UKIP's version makes the most sense. They closed a profitable post office in Gloucester on Thursday.

Anthony Butcher · 07-06-2008, 05:05 PM

I haven't really looked into it in detail, but Richard North is good at this kind of thing. It bothers me that this is an arguable issue

The anti-EU movement could really use a coordinated, high quality group of researchers. It is a shame that UKIP fell out with North.

Dilke · 07-06-2008, 06:28 PM

My God you Ukippers will blame the EU for everything, no doubt the fourteen year old down the road is pregnant because of the EU. Well, I used to work for the Post Office (Consignia, Royal Mail Group), read and learn.

Long before the EU got in on the act British governments were doing a good job destroying the world’s best post office. The Tories (under Thatcher) for ideological reasons could not stomach a successful publicly owned (and Royal) industry with a public service ethos. (Perhaps someone can tell me what Mr Knapman was doing at this time.)

The Thatcher government demanded a 'dividend' as 'shareholder' from the Post Office group - this meant almost all the surplus that should have been re-invested into technology went to government; meanwhile western European counties invested in their (at the time) heavily subsidised post offices – our PO was bled dry.

All the in-house technical expertise went when Post Office Telephones was sold off as British Telecom. It was the Conservatives who sold off Giro Bank which was the first nail in the rural post offices’ coffin, taking business away from them a few years after the sell off. Then came Uniform Business Rates.

The Conservatives caused the Post Office group to be split, at great cost into 'divisions' - Royal Mail Parcels (Parcelforce), Royal Mail Letters, Post Office Counters and Subscription Services(TV licensing) ready for privatisation. Conservatives referred Post Office Counters to the (then) Monopolies and Mergers Commission, leading the grand Crown Post Offices in many towns being replaced with a sub-office in the back of Smiths.

The final straw was the 'Pathways project" (John Major's government) - a PFI to enable card payments of benefits at post offices, that turn into a fiasco that cost the taxpayer £1bn. Post Office counters lost £10million, but far worse the failure of the project meant benefit payments are now being made though banks - loosing post offices 55bn a year in business! 3500 post offices closed under the Tories

And now it’s Labours turn to ****** up the PO!

06-06-2008, 04:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
Alex McKee Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Gloucester Posts: 6,666	Post office closures, UKIP Henley UKIP candidate Chris Adams spent this Friday morning highlighting the reason for post office closures. UKIP Henley \| The real reason for Post Office closures If you are a member of Digg, please digg the story there to help us promote the site: Digg - The real reason for Post Office closures __________________ Anything I post on this web forum is my personal opinion only. Users on Ignore list: None.

06-06-2008, 10:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 10,200 Party: None	The EU Referendum blog claims that this is nonsense: EU Referendum: Not us, Guv! there is a follow up article which does add an EU element: EU Referendum: Now you can blame the EU __________________ If you care about what's in your food and where it comes from, then get it labelled! Label My Food - http://www.labelmyfood.org.uk

07-06-2008, 05:05 PM	#5 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 10,200 Party: None	I haven't really looked into it in detail, but Richard North is good at this kind of thing. It bothers me that this is an arguable issue The anti-EU movement could really use a coordinated, high quality group of researchers. It is a shame that UKIP fell out with North. __________________ If you care about what's in your food and where it comes from, then get it labelled! Label My Food - http://www.labelmyfood.org.uk

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07-06-2008, 04:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
eublues Uber Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 3,128	The UKIP version of events sounds about right to me - and nicely put. We know there is the usual element of UK government gold plating added in.

07-06-2008, 06:28 PM	#6 (permalink)
Dilke Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Westcountry Posts: 56 Party: Other	My God you Ukippers will blame the EU for everything, no doubt the fourteen year old down the road is pregnant because of the EU. Well, I used to work for the Post Office (Consignia, Royal Mail Group), read and learn. Long before the EU got in on the act British governments were doing a good job destroying the world’s best post office. The Tories (under Thatcher) for ideological reasons could not stomach a successful publicly owned (and Royal) industry with a public service ethos. (Perhaps someone can tell me what Mr Knapman was doing at this time.) The Thatcher government demanded a 'dividend' as 'shareholder' from the Post Office group - this meant almost all the surplus that should have been re-invested into technology went to government; meanwhile western European counties invested in their (at the time) heavily subsidised post offices – our PO was bled dry. All the in-house technical expertise went when Post Office Telephones was sold off as British Telecom. It was the Conservatives who sold off Giro Bank which was the first nail in the rural post offices’ coffin, taking business away from them a few years after the sell off. Then came Uniform Business Rates. The Conservatives caused the Post Office group to be split, at great cost into 'divisions' - Royal Mail Parcels (Parcelforce), Royal Mail Letters, Post Office Counters and Subscription Services(TV licensing) ready for privatisation. Conservatives referred Post Office Counters to the (then) Monopolies and Mergers Commission, leading the grand Crown Post Offices in many towns being replaced with a sub-office in the back of Smiths. The final straw was the 'Pathways project" (John Major's government) - a PFI to enable card payments of benefits at post offices, that turn into a fiasco that cost the taxpayer £1bn. Post Office counters lost £10million, but far worse the failure of the project meant benefit payments are now being made though banks - loosing post offices 55bn a year in business! 3500 post offices closed under the Tories And now it’s Labours turn to ****** up the PO!