THIS year 2,500 post offices are scheduled to close. Why? Due to European Union rules the British government no longer has the right to provide the traditional £150m social network payment which has kept small local post offices in business.

Under article 88 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed by this Labour government, the payment will have to cease, throwing thousands of post office staff out of work.

The confusing regulations on size and weights of letters and packages are directly imposed under the postal directive (97/67/ec), which also forces postal services into greater competition with firms such as the German state-owned DHL.

Yet Tony Blair, whose government has allowed this to happen, blames postal workers themselves for failing to attract greater business, all the time taking more and more services out of the post office (vehicle licences, pensions, TV licences etc).

Our government should be ensuring the survival of our post offices which are a much needed facility in most areas which bring communities together. They should not be doing all they can to destroy them.

RYAN NEWELL, vice-chairman, UKIP Southampton.