By Dave Lord

A PERTHSHIRE MP has been criticised by rival politicians after he failed to oppose a “devastating” programme of post office closures during a critical Westminster vote.

Ochil and South Perthshire parliamentarian Gordon Banks was last night accused of “not having the courage” to go against his Labour masters.

SNP member of the Scottish Parliament for Perth, Roseanna Cunningham, insists the development provides clear evidence that Mr Banks “does not care” if local post offices are among those to face the axe.

“On the vote to suspend the post office closures...the London Labour Government came within 20 votes of being defeated,” Ms Cunningham said.

“SNP, Tory and Lib Dem MPs voted in favour of suspending the closures as did 19 English Labour rebels.

“However, no Scottish Labour MPs voted to stop the closures.”

Ms Cunningham said there could be little doubt post offices in Mr Banks’ own constituency would be among those affected.

“It has been clear from the closures that have been announced in other areas that Perthshire should brace itself for losing a number of local post offices when the list for Tayside is announced next month,” the MSP continued.

“It is very disappointing, therefore, that the MP who represents a large swathe of my constituency in Westminster did not have the courage to join some of his English colleagues and vote for this post office cull to be put on hold and re-examined.”

She continued, “Given that we do not yet know what lies in store for Perthshire post offices he could, at the very least, have abstained.

“By voting with the Government he has given his carte blanche backing for whatever plans are put forward.

“He believes post offices should be closed and does not seem to care which ones are picked for the axe.”

Meanwhile, Annabelle Ewing, former MP for Perth and the SNP’s candidate for Ochil and South Perthshire at the next UK General Election, added, “This was an opportunity to call a halt to the madness that is the Labour Government’s assault on the post office network.

“Gordon Banks clearly cares more about keeping in with the Labour Whips than defending communities throughout his constituency.

“Most of us are waiting with bated breath to see what the post office has in store for us but Gordon Banks clearly cannot wait.

“He wants the whole damaging process to continue apace when the sensible thing to do would be to realise that the entire endeavour is fundamentally flawed and needs to be returned to sender without any further delay.”

Last night Mr Banks hit back.

When contacted by The Courier he said, “The post office network has lost four million customers a week in the past few years and the network is running at a loss of £3.5 million each week.

“This Labour Government has pumped £2 billion into the network since 1997 and is committed to a further subsidy of £1.7 billion up until 2011.

“Even the general secretary of the National Federation of Sub-postmasters agrees that closures are necessary to ensure that remaining post offices are able to thrive in the future.”