David Ruffley has sent his 'Save our Local Post Offices' petition to the national headquarters of Post Office Ltd.

David's petition has been available to sign at local post offices throughout his Bury St Edmunds constituency as well as online at: www.tellDavidRuffley.com

David said: 'I am still receiving sheets of petition signatures from local post offices - the current tally is now 6,775 - but I wanted to send the 5,000 signatures I had already received to the national headquarters of Post Office Ltd to show the strength of support for retaining our local post offices. This is by far the largest petition I have ever run.

MPs now have their opportunity to comment on the proposed closures so I will be contacting Gary Grange, the national Post Office official dealing with the Network Change Programme in the Norfolk and West Suffolk area, to impress upon him my support and the support of my constituents for retaining our local post offices. I will continue to do all I can to minimise the closures in my constituency.

I will also be supporting the House of Commons debate on Wednesday, 19 March on a motion tabled by H M Opposition calling for the suspension of the Post Office closure programme. I share my constituents' concerns about the way the closure programme is being carried out. The Government's 'access criteria' are resulting in the closure of popular and profitable Post Offices, often without regard to the impact on elderly and disabled people, especially in our local villages. The Government needs to be sent a strong message that the post office closure programme is devastating rural communities and it should be re-assessed."