Labour put another nail in the coffin of our Post Offices this week when it blocked a Conservative motion in Parliament that would have suspended government plans to shut 2,500 Post Offices, including many in our local area.

But yet again Labour MPs closed ranks to stop action being taken to save our Post Offices.

Time and time again Labour has rejected Conservative moves to try and keep our Post Offices open. Our Post Offices need to be freed from the regulations restricting their freedom that are forcing them out of business.

As far back as 1999 we were trying to get the government to free our Post Offices from this red tape straightjacket. Labour rejected action to save Post Offices then, with support from local Lib Dem MP Norman Baker by the way, and today they continue to ignore the damage the loss of Post Offices is doing to communities across the UK.

Will Labour see sense before our Post Offices become no more than a memory?

Last Wednesday MP’s rejected the opportunity to grasp their last chance at forcing a referendum on the unpopular EU Lisbon Treaty. The local Liberal Democrat MP surprised locals by abstaining from the vote.

It is with regret that I believe the vast majority of voters in Lewes, Newhaven, Polegate, Seaford and the surrounding villages have been let down by their Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament. He has voted to abstain in the referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon rather than follow David Cameron and the Conservatives’ lead calling for a referendum on this important treaty.

What I find even more surprising is that both the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats both offered a referendum on the EU Constitution, which now reappeared as the Treaty, in their party manifestos for the last general election. They have now broken their promises to the electorate. This now deprives the people in the Lewes Constituency of a right to vote in a referendum.

There is a great lack of public discussion and debate about the specifics of the Treaty of Lisbon. It transfers to the EU authority over Visa, asylum and immigration policy, sea and air transport, energy strategy, the co-ordination of economic policy and the regulation of financial institutions (other than insurance companies). It also enables the EU to harmonise civil and criminal law and rules of police procedure across Europe. While Britain’s autonomy with regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights is respected, the purpose of the charter is harmonise European industrial relations law.

It is these measures that would make me fight for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. It is a real shame that the Liberal Democrats and in particular, our member of parliament are opposing a referendum. This will mean loosing control over these very important laws and regulations for ever. They are playing political games with our future.

This week’s big news is the parliamentary watchdog criticising our Lib Dem MP Norman Baker for breaching spending rules.

Earlier this year Baker put out a newsletter paid for with money that MPs can use to tell people about their activities. But Baker used the newsletter to promote the work of the Liberal Democrats, which is not allowed under the rules.

Thankfully the committee in Parliament that keeps tabs on MPs’ behaviour has now criticised Baker for wrongly using public money to promote his own party.

Baker is always keen to jump on the bandwagon when other MPs breach the rules so it seems hypocritical that he himself is breaking those same rules.

Some really bad local news is the plans to shut several Post Offices across the constituency. Post Offices in Landport, North Chailey, Polegate, Newhaven and Seaford are all set to go. It’s an outrage and will hurt older and disabled people.

These closures could of been avoided if the Labour government didn’t repeatedly block Conservative efforts to give Post Offices more freedom so they could stay profitable and open.

I find it particularly hypocritical of Norman Baker to start moaning about these closures when he voted with Labour stop the reforms our Post Offices need. Norman Baker should be ashamed of the role he played in Parliament in killing off our local Post Offices.

Today, Thursday 1st of November will be remembered as the day of the General Election that never was.

Had Gordon Brown not run away from calling it, by midnight tonight Lewes could have had a new MP, one who delivers results.

The election may have been cancelled, but the need for results certainly isn’t!