LOSS OF CARD ACCOUNT WOULD BE NAIL IN THE COFFIN FOR LOCAL POST OFFICES - THURSO

There appears to be a great deal of speculation that the government have already made up their mind about Post Office Card Account, and it appears as though it may be bad news. However, any announcement may not take place until after Glenrothes by-election on Thursday, because Labour believes that this would be a gift to the SNP.

Most political commentators are seeing the by-election as a litmus test of Gordon Brown's recent political popularity, and he is seeing it as key to his continued renewal and revival.

According to the Daily Telegraph the NFSPO says that losing the Government contract could threaten as many as 700 out of 1,120 Post Offices in Scotland. All the opposition parties have been campaigning on post office closures in Glenrothes.

Mervyn Jones, a postmaster in the Scottish Borders who is the national president of the federation, said: "I believe the bad news could be being deliberately held back because of the Glenrothes by-election."

The Government insists that the contract is being handled on a purely commercial basis and insists that politics will not influence the announcement

Commenting on rumours that the Post Office has already lost its contract to run the Post Office Card Account (POCA) but that the Government is delaying its announcement until after the Glenrothes by-election, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary, John Thurso said: "If these rumours prove to be true, this is the final nail in the coffin for local post offices. Giving the contract to anyone other than Post Office Limited themselves is a slap in the face for all the people who are fighting to save their local post office."

John Thurso went on to say: "This is a deeply cynical u-turn by the Government given its position just five years ago, when it described POCA as the ‘cornerstone' of the Post Office's new banking products.

"It is surely no coincidence that in a by-election week the decision, if indeed there has been one, has not yet been announced."

Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jenny Willott said: "A decision to award the POCA contract to anyone other than the Post Office will mark a dereliction of duty by the Department of Work and Pensions to serve the millions of pensioners and others who rely on pension and benefits payments to make ends meet.

"Thanks to the locality of post offices, millions of people have come to rely on the POCA as the only means of accessing their benefits because they are disabled, elderly or simply cannot afford to travel miles to the nearest bank.

"The department's most vulnerable customers will suffer if the POCA is not run by the post office."