THE forthcoming consultation on the closure of Worcestershire post offices will be a “sham”, the city’s Conservative party candidate believes.

Robin Walker said Worcester people’s failed efforts to save the main Foregate Street post office last year demonstrated they had little hope of preventing closures once they had been announced.

The Royal Mail Group is currently in the process of closing 2,500 post offices across the country, with its proposals for Worcestershire due to be announced in less than a fortnight, on Wednesday, August 27.

There will then be a six-week public consultation before final decisions are taken.

Worcester’s Labour MP Mike Foster criticised Mr Walker for speaking out before the consultation had even begun, and said the city should wait and see which county branches were chosen before protesting.

The Royal Mail Group also defended its procedures, claiming that 20 per cent of its proposals in other parts of the UK had been changed following consultation.

But Mr Walker said past experiences in Worcester showed people’s views would be ignored.

“Last year they asked what people in Worcester thought of the closure of Foregate Street post office,” he said. “The people of Worcester spoke out with a clear voice. We said, ‘Do not close this post office.’ We were utterly ignored.

“This year they will go ahead and ask for scores more closures in our county. They will ask our opinions and they will completely ignore whatever we say.

“MPs who listened to their constituents have been trying to stop this closure programme and the sham consultations that come with it.

“The Government has stopped them from succeeding.”

But his Labour opponent said Mr Walker was jumping the gun with his attack.

“I think it’s a bit rich that Mr Walker is calling this a sham consultation before the plans have even been announced,” Mr Foster said.

“I will wait to see what the plans are before I make any comment – that’s the mature response to the changes being made.

“We are subsidising the network to the tune of £150 million a year to try to keep as many post offices open as possible, but only about 4,000 of the 14,000 branches are actually profitable.

“What’s important is that when closures are announced, we make sure they are those that cause the least problems for the community.”