'Bleak' outlook for post offices

The future for some post offices is "bleak" despite a closure programme aimed at boosting their viability, a leading MP warns today.

The National Audit Office said the Government needs to be alert to falling business volumes that could threaten sub-post offices.

Edward Leigh, Tory chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said: "The future for some post offices is still bleak.

"Even after the programme of 2,500 closures in urban areas... many individual subpostmasters may still struggle to make enough profit to stay open."

Mr Leigh said the Government should either increase subsidies "or take a totally businessminded view and throw its weight behind new services which hold genuine commercial potential."