At PMQs this week I asked the Prime Minister about Post Office closures in the constituency and his response was absolutely useless.
Boris Johnson’s answer, in which he described Glenrothes, Methil and Buckhaven as “rural”, showed how out of touch he is with issues that matter to ordinary people not only in Fife but elsewhere.
I highlighted six locations in Glenrothes and Central Fife whose Post Offices have either closed since 2019 or are in the process of closing, and seven others where there have been either temporary closures or relocation of services in that time. I asked the Prime Minister “Given that the Post Office is 100% owned by his Government, what exactly does it take for him to admit that the current trading model for the Post Office is not working for the people who rely on its services?”
In his reply the Prime Minister suggested that the closures illustrated the challenges of running post office services in “rural” locations.
Most of the Post Offices I mentioned were either in the town of Glenrothes or in the major Levenmouth conurbation towns of Buckhaven, Methil and Methilhill. The Prime Minister just assumed that because we’re in Fife we all live in the middle of nowhere. It was a useless answer from a useless Prime Minister.
He neither knows nor cares that whether they live in large towns or small villages people are seeing the Post Office service systematically dismantled. Shop owners who operate sub post offices want to provide a service for their communities but the Post Office refuses to listen to their concerns and continues to insist on them following a business model that is unworkable for many of them.
Until the Post Office is forced to listen to these concerns the closures are likely to continue. It’s up to Boris Johnson’s Government, who own 100% of the Post Office, to act before it’s too late.
Watch our exchange below: