Remote post offices could avoid the axe

Post offices in some of the most remote parts of Britain could be spared from closing in a late rethink by ministers.

But the move, understood to help areas of Scotland in particular, will lead to suspicions that Labour is trying to revive its battered fortunes in Gordon Brown’s homeland.

Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, will confirm tomorrow that about 2,500 post offices will have to shut over the next 18 months.

Mr Darling is expected to tell MPs that, with many branches struggling to attract any business, the current UK-wide network of more than 14,000 post offices must be slimmed down to about 12,000.

He is poised to confirm the scale of the closure programme, first outlined last December, despite presiding over a consultation process that produced more than 2,500 responses.

Mr Darling will attempt to soften the blow by confirming a compensation package likely to be worth on average pounds 60,000 for each branch that has to shut.

He will also confirm that as part of a pounds 1.7 billion investment between now and 2011, there will also be an annual subsidy of pounds 150 million to help the remaining post offices most at risk.

Even after tomorrow’s announcement, people in particular parts of the country will have to wait up to 18 months to find out if their branch is doomed under lengthy local consultation processes to be overseen by Post Office Ltd.

But last night, Government sources hinted that in one concession, Mr Darling, who also represents a Scottish constituency, would issue amended guidance to protect branches from closure in more inaccessible parts of the UK.

A well-placed source suggested last night that the Highlands of Scotland in particular would probably benefit from the change.