A GOVERNMENT minister has said he "hopes" Ulverston's Post Office service continues.

Barrow MP John Woodcock pressed David Liddington, the Leader of the House of Commons, on plans to shut the County Square branch and seek to franchise the service out.

Mr Liddington would only say he "hopes" it remains.

The exchange came after the Post Office announced it was seeing partners to take over Crown branches - larger outlets usually found on high streets - including Ulverston's.

Mr Woodcock said: “The government are forcing through this change programme and they should be able to offer a proper guarantee that people in Ulverston will not be left without the post office services they rely on.

“Simply saying that this is a ‘hope’ or and ‘objective’ is not good enough, we need a commitment, and that is what I will be seeking from the post office minister when I secure a meeting with her.”

He also asked Mr Liddington, who helps decide Parliamentary business: "Can we have a debate about it, please?"

Mr Liddington replied: "The key point is that the services remain, whether they are carried out in a Crown post office or whether they are continued in a sub-post office.

"The sub-post office network provides post office services to the overwhelming majority of our constituents throughout the country. I certainly hope that the honourable gentleman’s constituents in Ulverston will continue to get that service.

"The experience in my constituency (in Buckinghamshire), where the Crown post office closed, is that those services continued but at a different location. That surely has to be the objective."