HOW many people in our country are aware that the closure of our post offices is an EU directive?

Postcomm, is the independent regulator for postal services in the UK. The European Commission has proposed to implement an internal market by gradually opening it up to competition, with a final market opening date of 2009.

Negotiations on the draft directive are now being conducted under the German presidency of the EU.

It is incredible that the one main post office in Southampton is likely to be moved to within WH Smith.

Anyone who has been inside the post office will agree that it is a spacious area, and appropriate to deal with the vast volume of trade that is demanded in a city like Southampton.

Villages and small towns all over England have seen their post offices snatched away from them, and many others, still under threat are losing money.

They feel demoralised, and the business that sustained them has now been transferred to other outlets, such as supermarkets and high street stores.

These outlets are sometimes a long way from their local post office, and pose a great difficulty for pensioners and the disabled.

If people are forced to go to a supermarket or store for their postal needs, this could eventually lead to to the loss of trade for the local shops who rely on their livelihood.

Sadly, our country is heading towards total control from Brussels, with our Westminster Government rubber stamping the laws of the EU.

It is a disgrace that the sad demise of our post offices are just another piece of England controlled by a foreign land.

BERYL HUMPHREY, Hamble. Southampton