Haringey’s Labour councillors were forced to admit this week that they had made little impact to alter the disastrous decision to close five Post Offices in the borough. The admission of defeat came at a meeting of Full Council on Monday (14th July 2008) after local Liberal Democrats used their ‘opposition time’ to examine Haringey Council’s actions to save Post Offices for residents.

Labour members described their actions to help the beleaguered service but it contained little more than meetings and phone calls. Liberal Democrats called for original thinking to solve the crisis. Cllr Susan Oatway (Alexandra ward) showed the real impact of the closures by presenting the effects on her residents.

Cllr Robert Gorrie, Liberal Democrat leader, commented:

“Haringey Council has hidden behind the refusal of Post Office Ltd to provide financial information. The disdain with which the Post Office has brushed-off local government in their search to save local Post Offices is a disgrace but not helped by a Labour Council who do not seem to have the ideas, will, nor ability to come up with a plan to help.

“It’s not good enough for Labour councillors to blame the Post Office. The Post Office is publicly owned and is only implementing the Labour government’s national closure strategy.”

Susan Oatway added:

“I think that Labour have failed their residents. Many people with disabilities or elderly residents relied on their local Post Office for a lifeline. Now this support has been cut with little real effort by the Council to stop it.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, added:

“This Labour Council’s failure to come up with a solution to stop our local post offices from closing is just as bad as their Labour MP’s [David Lammy] repeated votes to shut down these essential lifelines – the proof of the pudding is in the voting.”