Roger Helmer, Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands, has thrown his support behind a leading local Conservative’s campaign to stop Post Office closures.

Andrew Bridgen, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North West Leicestershire, has collected more than 1,700 signatures in support of saving Post Offices in the constituency.

The pair visited Measham Post Office, one of the places local people have been signing up to the petition, and met with Postmistress Deborah Gilbert.

Andrew Bridgen, who is to present the petition to the district council in February to get their support, said: “This campaign shows just how strongly local people feel about this issue, and it is fantastic to have Roger’s support.”

Roger Helmer added: "Local Post Offices provide a range of vital services, particularly to those who have difficulty in travelling longer distances.  The debate should be on how we fund those services -- not on how we can close more offices". 

Conservatives have called for sub-Post Offices to be given a greater freedom to offer a wider variety of products and accused New Labour of deliberately running down the service.