Since 1997, Labour have closed 5,000 Post Offices across the country, including 38 in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. That's one in four post offices shut down in Bristol North West and Kingswood.

Now our local Post Offices are once again under threat. The Government has decided that another 2,500 Post Offices must close, so that by 2009 a third of all Post Offices will have to shut their doors.

To fight these closures, we've launched a petition to protect our Post Offices. If you want to help save our local Post Offices, please fill out the petition on this site, so we can make your voice heard!

The Conservatives plan to:
£ Give Sub-Post Offices more freedom to offer a wider range of business services
£ Push for more Post Offices to be 'One Stop Shops'
£ Encourage local Councils to open 'Council Counters' in local branches
£ Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail
£ Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under-cutting the prices they can charge for postage

We, the undersigned, call on the Government to stop its Post Office closure programme in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. We urge the Government to retain investment in the Post Office network, to remove restrictive regulations from Post Office businesses, and to reverse the removal of Government business to safeguard our Post Office network.

	Save our post offices- save our heritage

Save the Post Office Card Account!

While most attention is, rightly, focused on the latest Post Offices to be closed as part of the Government's cutbacks, a further threat is just a few weeks away. Later this summer, the Government is set to finally make a decision on whether the updated version of the popular Post Office Card Account is to remain within the Post Office or transferred to another organization.

The Post Office Card Account offers low cost, hassle-free banking to almost five million people. The card allows easy access to their pensions or benefits at their local post office. It doesn't have an overdraft and won't allow people to get into debt. Every time someone uses the card at their local post office, the sub-postmaster receives a small payment from the Government. This is worth up to 12% of some sub-postmasters' pay. It is the reason why some branches can still survive.

The National Federation of Sub-Postmasters and the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee agree that this card account is vital to the Post Office, and both want to see the Post Office run the Post Office Card Account. It is crucial to the remaining post offices in this area that the Government agrees.

As part of our Save Post Offices campaign, we have set up a new petition for people to sign calling on the government to keep the Post Office Card Account within the Post Office. Please sign below if you would like to join the campaign to continue to support Post Offices in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Our Post Offices need all the help and support they can get.

We call upon the government to keep the Post Office Card Account run within the Post Office