Sir, On June 3, dozens of rural Post Offices in Pembrokeshire will learn whether they will be victims of the latest round of Government closures. Many already know that they are shortlisted to go, but are forbidden from saying so. Of those which will close, many also double as a village shop, the likelihood now being that without the Post Office, the shop will cease to be viable and close too. The Post Office have suggested that there will be a six-week public consultation following the announcement, although in other areas this has led to very few reprievals. With the demise of this important social service across the county we will witness another small step towards the total isolation of some of our most important communities. People will have to travel further and incur greater cost to obtain a service that is very likely to be inferior to that they have enjoyed and relied on for many generations. It remains a mystery (or does it?) as to why the Government was happy to spend several thousand pounds for each and every one of us to rescue a Northern England Bank (Northern Rock) with two million customers, but refused to spend a fiver a head maintaining our post office network which has 11 million customers. If you value the service that your local Post Office provides, please support their efforts to overcome the heavy hand of Gordon Brown's Government. Simon Hart, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.
