Glenrothes and Central Fife MP Peter Grant has criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a “useless” response to concerns about Post Office closures in his constituency.
SNP MP Mr Grant said Mr Johnson’s answer, in which he described Glenrothes, Methil and Buckhaven as “rural”, showed how “out of touch” he was.
Mr Grant had highlighted six locations in his constituency where post offices had either closed since 2019 or were in the process of closing.
At prime minister’s questions, he also mentioned seven others where there had been either temporary closures or relocation of services.
He then asked the prime minister: “Given that the Post Office is 100% owned by his government, what exactly does it take for him to admit that the current trading model for the Post Office is not working for the people who rely on its services?”
In his reply, Mr Johnson suggested that the closures illustrated the challenges of running post office services in “rural” locations.
He said: “When it comes to supporting and protecting post offices, particularly rural post offices, where I think is what he was driving at, this government will do everything it can to protect them.”
Mr Grant was seen shaking his head after the answer.
He said afterwards: “Most of the post offices I mentioned were either in the town of Glenrothes or in the major Levenmouth conurbation towns of Buckhaven, Methil and Methilhill.
‘Useless answer from a useless prime minister’
“The prime minister just assumed that because we’re in Fife we all live in the middle of nowhere. It was a useless answer from a useless prime minister.
“He neither knows nor cares that whether they live in large towns or small villages people are seeing the post office service systematically dismantled.
“Shop owners who operate sub-post offices want to provide a service for their communities but the Post Office refuses to listen to their concerns and continues to insist on them following a business model that is unworkable for many of them.
“Until the Post Office is forced to listen to these concerns the closures are likely to continue.
“It’s up to Boris Johnson’s government, who own 100% of the Post Office, to act before it’s too late.”
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