UKIP clear on post office policy

Published: 11:12 AM July 16, 2008 Updated: 2:39 AM February 23, 2021

COLIN Saunderson of St Ives Liberal Democrats (Letters, June 11) suggests that UKIP has no policies. I am shocked by this statement, especially from a Liberal Democrat. UKIP is clear not just in its aims and philosophy, which is to protect the freedom of

COLIN Saunderson of St Ives Liberal Democrats (Letters, June 11) suggests that UKIP has no policies. I am shocked by this statement, especially from a Liberal Democrat.

UKIP is clear not just in its aims and philosophy, which is to protect the freedom of the individual from the state, whether that be the EU, Whitehall or Pathfinder House.

On the issue of post office closures we are clear. We believe that the decision to subsidise this vital service or not should be made by the democratically-elected Parliament in the UK, not an unelected bureaucrat in Brussels.

We are in the tragic situation where the UK Government recognised the need to subsidise the post office service. But when they attempted to do this they were told that EU law overrides UK decisions, and the amount they could provide was capped.

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They were also told that they could not increase this amount even when inflation rises. Hence, every year that inflation goes up, in real terms the funding for vital post office services goes down. Whether you vote Labour, Lib Dem or Conservative, no one in the UK can change this, unless they believe in withdrawing from the EU and deciding these sorts of issues for ourselves. The only party with this clear policy is UKIP, the fourth-largest and fastest-growing Party in the UK.

In a time when Lib Dems in Labour-run authorities are campaigning to save post offices through subsidy and Lib Dems in Conservative-run authorities are campaigning to force post offices to be more competitive and face market forces, it seems a bit rich that they suggest we are the party with out a clear policy.