Bit by bit the life-support system for post office branches is being closed down, to the great detriment of their customers. The decision to shut the popular Bank Street post office in the centre of Bradford, on the grounds that although it was extremely busy most of the transactions were modest and not profitable, has greatly inconvenienced its many users and led to long queues at the alternatives in Darley Street and Sunbridge Road.

And the closure of several suburban and village branches around Bradford has resulted in the people who used them having to travel to neighbouring areas to conduct their business.

Now the surviving post offices face a double threat over the next few years. The Department of Work and Pensions has said that it will not renew the contract for Post Office account cards, which are used by 4.3 million to draw their pensions and benefits, when it expires in 2010 and there are fears that the Government will end its £150 million annual subsidy for rural post offices in 2008.

These two measures will inevitably lead to a mass of further branch closures and leave many thousands of customers without a means of accessing their pensions and benefits other than by travelling to the nearest bank, which particularly in the case of rural customers can be many miles away.

Even though the Post Office nowadays is a private business and not a social service, the Government cannot ignore the social implications of its actions. It should be looking for ways of helping local post offices to stay open rather than actively pursuing policies which will hasten their demise.