Claire Young

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) on securing the debate. Having asked for a post office debate at business questions only two weeks ago, I was delighted when he secured this one. In rural areas, such as my Thornbury and Yate constituency, post offices provide vital services that enable people to live their life. Since 2015, over 6,000 bank branches have closed across the country, making it harder for people to access their cash and use banking services. Many have been reassured that they can still access those core services through their post office, but now even that is at risk. I agree with the hon. Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) on the importance of post offices to e-commerce. When I made my recent visit to my local sorting office, I was told that the Royal Mail is now a parcel delivery service with a sideline in delivering mail. Obviously, post offices play an important role in e-commerce and, in doing so, support local businesses. The recent news that the Post Office was looking to close 115 Crown post offices was a huge blow; one of those post offices is in Yate. Residents tell me that it feels like a done deal, not a proposal open for discussion. When I met the area manager, although she said that no decisions had been made, there seemed to be a strong leaning towards moving all post offices to the franchising model, with all the risks that hon. Members have already mentioned.