Thousands
of rural post office jobs will be saved because the Government has decided to
continue subsidising them, a move that will cost £150m a year.
Trade
and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt is expected to announce today that the
Government will continue to subsidise the loss-making Post Office network until
2008.
The
decision means that about 6,000 rural Post Offices, that would almost certainly
have had to close without state support, will be saved.
Although
a review this year by regulator Postcomm
found that 90 per cent of rural offices were losing money, Hewitt is believed
to have been convinced that they serve a social purpose.
