Stanton St John Post Office
This morning I went to the local post office in Stanton St John which, thanks to the Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MEPs, is closing on Tuesday.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage and I were speaking to the owners, Dennis and Mollie Ingrey, about the whole process they have gone to to save their branch and they are devastated that they have not been able to save such an important resource in the village.
They were not told of the EU links to the closures, but amazingly were told that the EU was giving them their redundancy money. This would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad for villages across the country. In fact, the EU have given permission for the UK government to pay off the people who are being forced to close their branches whilst they support the taking over of the British postal market by foreign companies.
The postal counter in Stanton St John is the only facility within walking distance and in this village there are a lot of pensioners who cannot get to another branch without someone taking them there. Someone raised with me the concern that the nearest branch to them come Tuesday was targeted by criminals and people do not want to risk having their money stolen. The other facility can only be reached by a bus which goes once a week. Yet the closures were acceptable under the EU rules which just set distances ‘as the crow flies’. I did not meet a single person today who wanted their post office to close and yet they were amazed when they found out the truth behind it!
Mrs Ingrey told me that last week the Liberal Democrat candidate turned up outside the post office, had a photo taken with an old petition and then left without speaking to anyone. Sheer hypocrisy from a party who voted to close post offices up and down the country but of course they have told the whole constituency how they oppose them.
They also said that they need every person in the village to spend another pound a day to bring it up to £5 to be able to stay open. How on earth is this good for this constituency and this village?
That’s why my message is ‘time for a change’. Because the people of Stanton St John, of Henley and of this country deserve better. They deserve to be told the truth.
- Report from UKIP Public Meeting at Henley Town Hall
- Hustings at Dorchester Abbey
- UKIP MP to speak at Henley public meeting
- Liberal Party President to speak at UKIP Henley meeting
- Cameron rats on referendum pledge
- The real reason for Post Office closures
- Liberal Democrats start by-election campaign with a lie
Press releases
- By-election results
- UKIP Public Meetings
- Campaigning in Thame and Goring
- Ensure that you can vote
- Stanton St John Post Office
- Post Office closures
- By-election will be on 26th of June
- Constituency walkabout
Candidate's blog
- UKIP National Website
- Henley Standard