Lib Dem leader joins fight to save Essex Road Post Office

3.00.00pm GMT Fri 18th Jan 2008

Sarah Ludford and Nick Clegg join local campaigners outside Essex Road Post Office.

Lib Dem party leader Nick Clegg MP has joined Lib Dem campaigners battling to save Essex Road Post Office.

Nick Clegg met campaigners and customers at the well-used Essex Road Post Office, which is proposed for closure as part of a Government-backed restructuring of the Post Office network.

Nick Clegg said "We cannot afford see more of these valuable local resources closed. If, instead of initiating a further round of cuts, the Government were to adopt Liberal Democrats plans for the Post Office then they would be able to invest an additional £2 billion in the network and safeguard the future of local post offices for years to come."

He was joined by London's Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford, GLA campaigner Meral Ece, Council leader James Kempton, and local councillors, with Lib Dem campaigner Bridget Fox who has organised the campaign.

Sarah Ludford said, "This Post Office, like so many around the country, is vital to our community. I am delighted that Nick was able to come out, join in the protest, and show that the Lib Dems are united in our opposition to Post Office closures."

Local traders and community groups are also backing Bridget's campaign, including TwoTen Hairdressers, Jools Flowers, and Susan's Greengrocers on Essex Road , the Canon Collins Education Trust based in Northampton Street and the Dorcas Befriending Project, Canonbury Crescent .

Last year Labour ministers announced that 2,500 Post Offices across the country would have to close. Liberal Democrat MPs opposed the proposals when they were debated in Parliament a year ago, but local Labour MP Emily Thornberry voted to support the closure programme.

Local campaigner Bridget Fox said, "The government says that no-one will be more than a mile from a post office. On that logic, pensioners from Essex Road would have to go to Hackney. Emily Thornberry may think it's OK for people to 'go the extra mile' for the Post Office. Liberal Democrats do not."

Hundreds of people have already signed the Save Essex Road Post Office petition, which is available online at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/SERPO.