On the day that Gordon Brown was crowned as Labour's new leader and the man who will succeed Tony Blair as this country's Prime Minster, Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair darling announced further service cuts by slashing 2,500 post offices. This means that for Wyre Forest, a further 3 post offices face closure. This comes after 10 have closed since 1999, leaving just 20 across the district.
Mark Garnier has been collecting signatures from Wyre Forest residents who are angry about the cuts. Nearly three hundred local people have returned his petition circulated with newsletters over the last few months. But in the same way that Wyre Forest's pleas fell on deaf ears when Tony Blair downscaled the hospital, Wyre Forest has again been ignored.
Speaking about the cuts, Mark Garnier said:
"This is part of an orchestrated campaign by the Government who have been taking away services that the post office can offer for some time. Pensions, TV licenses, road tax - all are services that have been removed. But what the government does not take into account is the fact that the post office forms, in many cases, the key stone of a community. Local shops survive because of the footfall created by post offices and these cuts could mean the end for small local shops. This urban based government simply does not understand how rural and market town communities work."