UK NEWS
BUNGLING LABOUR’S £4M BILL FOR POST OFFICE U-TURN
CHANGING TIMES: Thousands of sub-post offices have already closed
By Gabriel Milland
Labour's bungling ministers are set to land the taxpayer with a £4million bill after a last-minute U-turn on post office closures.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told MPs yesterday that the Post Office will get a new contract to pay benefits to people without proper bank accounts.
Losing the Post Office Card Account could have triggered the closure of up to 3,000 sub-post offices – on top of 2,500 that have already shut.
But the Government will now have to pay huge amounts to other companies who bid for the contract – which is worth around £1billion.
The total cost of compensation is believed to be more than £4million.
Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan described the move as “disarray dressed up as a decision”.
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It’s a humiliating climbdown for the Government.
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Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan
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He added: “It’s a humiliating climbdown for the Government who have done everything they possibly can to find a way of awarding the contract to somebody else.”
Mr Duncan demanded to know how much taxpayers would have to pay for the failure to hand the contract straight to the Post Office, adding: “The Government insisted on having a tender. And now, today, after months of an expensive process, they have simply binned that tender altogether.”
But George Thomson of the National Federation of Sub Postmasters said it was the correct decision. “The Post Office’s bid was highly competitive, and provides customers with unrivalled geographical coverage, security and peace of mind,” he added.
“The alternative to today’s news – the loss or the joint award of the contract – would have undoubtedly resulted in at least 3,000 unplanned closures, decimating the national network as sub-postmasters are forced out of business through loss of income and significantly reducing vulnerable customers’ access to basic financial services.”
Around 4.3million people hold a Card Account to obtain pensions and benefit payments.
Gordon Lishman of Age Concern said: “This is not just a win for the Post Office, it’s a win for the two million pensioners who have a Post Office Card Account and the many more for whom their local Post Office is a lifeline.”
A Whitehall source said the total compensation bill had yet to be worked out and would depend on bidders’ costs.
BUNGLING LABOUR
14.11.08, 9:34pm
Presumably the companies bid because tenders were invited. That was the mistake. As the PO already had this contract it did not need to be advertised. Anyone with half a brain could see that the loss of it would cause numerous closures. The costs of those including unemployment costs, loss of council tax and income tax from the closures should have been taken into account.
• Posted by: exnomad • Report Comment
BUNGLING LABOUR - I'M NOT TYPING MORE THAN THAT
14.11.08, 12:56pm
Very good point Jaypuss!
They'll learn nothing from receiving compensation every time their bid is lost..its a **** stupid and expensive way of doing business. The last big occasion of this happening was when Alchemy, a venture capitalists company, eventually withdrew their bid for the BMW owned Rover Car Company, and then went on to receive £5 million for their trouble...
• Posted by: TicToc • Report Comment
BUNGLING LABOUR'S £4M BILL FOR P.O. U - TURN.
14.11.08, 12:41pm
Bungling Labour..! Sucessive governments have bungled away " British Empire ". Not being an Imperialist by any means, simply an admirer
of great effort, / achievment.
What of UKs Victorian legacy, and way beyond, railways, canals, open spaces, forests, valleys mountainsides, industries, shipbuilding, motorcycle, cotton mills, etc etc. principals, morals, wealth, communities, small business, destroying everything. Creating mega everything, including a benefiot culture, underclass, this is a new class whose existence has only recently been admitted by government as far as I am aware. Although personaly believeing these people / or the influence of, are from the slum clearances, going way back into history as village idiots. These beings bred prolifically but were not paid for doing this, or indeed paid for doing nothing. Any miscreants were severly punished, the colonies even. ' No disrespect intended.'
U turns are not bad, expensive ,in some instances, but...
U turns should be made now in many instances, vital even.
Thurs: 13 Nov. the Director or some such of Haringey social services comments :- Of course this is a huge operation 1,200 staff, management, blah, blah, blah, "as I read it, saying the operation was unmanagable, there fore as I see it, "Situation untenable" He then comes out with the sad, disgusting case of Baby P along with many more cases besides, as being very complex. Well, well, well............
I was always taught " If in doubt stop".........
• Posted by: juan01 • Report Comment
POST OFFICES COST MONEY
14.11.08, 12:11pm
It costs money to keep Post Offices open but they provide a necessary service to all people. There was outrage when people found out that P.O.s were going to close but the Govt. went ahead with its' plans despite what the electorate wanted. In their effort to outsource yet another public service so that their mates could make some profit out of it (looking for a place on the board when they get voted out), they have landed us with a compensation bill. Why couldn't they just leave well alone like everyone wanted them to. By the time they've finished fiddling with the Royal Mail in general, all the profitable parts will have been cherry picked by private industry leaving the expensive core part of delivering letters to be subsidised by the tax payer. I'm sure the likes of DHL, CityLink and the rest of them won't be subsidising the cost of door step delivery of mail.
• Posted by: jonocynic9 • Report Comment
PATHETIC BUNCH OF NOOLABOUR BOOBIES
14.11.08, 11:26am
Sadly, stories like this are nothing new.
We can read similar stories any day of the week about the serial incompetence and bungling pathetic excuse for a PM.
Such stories abound of a pathetic booby leading a hapless bunch of no-hopers whose only aim is to squeeze as much money out the system to fund their own undeserved rich lifestyles. and a government led by a hopeless booby who hasn't a single clue what to do about anything.
• Posted by: eudoxia • Report Comment
PATHETIC BUNCH OF NOOLABOUR BOOBIES
14.11.08, 11:26am
Sadly, stories like this are nothing new.
We can read similar stories any day of the week about the serial incompetence and bungling pathetic excuse for a PM.
Such stories abound of a pathetic booby leading a hapless bunch of no-hopers whose only aim is to squeeze as much money out the system to fund their own undeserved rich lifestyles. and a government led by a hopeless booby who hasn't a single clue what to do about anything.
• Posted by: eudoxia • Report Comment
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