In the four years I’ve been your MP one of the things that has annoyed me the most was the way the Post Office treated our community in the run up to closing the Brunswick Town Crown Post Office.
They promised us a genuine consultation and I took them at their word. But it was a sham.
When people do this to our community I never forget it! So I pushed really hard on the select committee that I sit on to look at the post office closure and restructuring programme, and got the chance to question the Post Office Chief Executive.
I speak quite often about my work on the select committee. I really want people to know that there’s more to the House of Commons than the chamber itself, and particularly now when the government is too scared to do any legislating, power has really shifted to committees like these.
You can watch our exchange here: https://www.facebook.com/hoveandportslade/videos/2458614994369701/.
I hope when you see exchanges like these that those of you affected by the Post Office closures feel like I’m giving you voice, because that’s what’s in my mind at times like these.
Since this exchange the CEO has been in touch with me and offered to come to Hove and meet with me again to learn the lessons from this time. Tonight I wrote back thanking him for the offer and accepting it. I don’t want any other community to go through what we did and if some good comes out of it then it’ll be a good days work!