Barry Stamps Political Diary

It's strange how people jump on any bandwagon. That's certainly the case with the various campaigns to save the post offices in and around Stafford that are down for closure. This bandwagon jumping seems top of the list of activities where the local Conservatives are concerned. As soon as the plan to close the post offices at Great Bridgeford, Walton Stone, Milford, Wolverhampton Road, and Marston Road were announced the local Tories came out of the woodwork in droves, or when one looks at the pictures in the local press its clear droves is perhaps the wrong word, as the same faces kept appearing in the crowd outside the different post offices.

However what the local Tories appear to have forgotten is that when the last Conservative Government was in power they closed 3500 post offices and no doubt had Tony Blair not swept to power they would have shut even more.

However even given this bandwagon jumping, it has to be said that everything must be done to save these post offices as they all provide a much needed service to the local community. On that front I was really pleased to see the Borough Council at it's meeting last Tuesday putting aside politics and agreeing to form an all party working group to look at the closure programme and what could be done. They even agreed that they should work with the County Council, and any other organisation that was also fighting the closures to ensure any efforts were not diluted or the wheel reinvented time and time again!

This will however prove difficult for some Tories to come to terms with, as they have constantly castigated the County Council for the efforts they are making. Working with the enemy may not be their idea of fun, but if that is what it takes to get the Post Office to change it's mind over the closures so be it. At the end of the day saving the post offices in Stafford that are facing closure is more important than scoring political points.