There are other options too

The Post Office saga continues. As I hoped, local people aren't willing to let the Government close six of our local Post Offices without a fight. Lots of you have signed the petitions in the branches that are under threat, or on my website at www.johnpenrosemp.com and I'm hoping for a good turnout at the protest march we've organised too. We start from Kewstoke Post Office at 12.30 this Friday, and we're marching to the nearest alternative Post Office that's staying open, in Milton. Even if you're only with us for a few hundred meters you'll be very welcome.I'm pushing our case in Westminster too. It turns out that Parliament has three post offices, and a couple of them should probably be on the Government's hit list. So last week I got a bit cheeky and asked the Chamber whether any of them are going to be closed. There was a long silence, and it turned out nobody knew. There was a serious point behind my question though. Firstly it wouldn't be right for MPs to get special treatment and, if the Government is going to close 2,500 Post offices up and down the country, Parliament should take its share of the pain. But also, if a couple of Westminster's Post Offices aren't on the Government's hit list when they ought to be, I suggested they could take a few of Weston's threatened branches off in exchange.There are other options too. In Essex, the Council has decided to take over its local Post Offices in an attempt to keep them open. I've no idea if the same approach would work in North Somerset, but it's got to be worth looking at. I've written to our local Council asking it to evaluate the idea; it can't hurt to consider it, at least.