What could possibly be the reason for the delay?

From Hansard yesterday I see that another piece of Labour dishonesty has been exposed. It came in a speech by Sir Robert Smith (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD) (my emphasis)

"We are in the middle of the consultation on the closure of 2,500 post offices. It is depressing that the Government seem to have come at the issue with a top-down attitude, looking at how many post offices they can afford to close, rather than at what kind of network is needed to deliver the criteria that they have set for the Post Office. The approach should have been much more bottom-up, based on the community’s needs. The Government should have worked out those needs and then built up to the kind of network that was needed to fulfil them, rather than coming up with a figure of 2,500 at the start of the process. The feedback from the Post Office is that if any individual campaign makes during the consultation an effective case for the non-closure of a post office, the Post Office will have to find another post office to close to make up the numbers. That means that the feedback from communities will not be as effective as it would be if a community-up approach were adopted.

In the north-east, there will be a month’s delay before the community will know what will happen. It was meant to be April, but it is now going to be May before we know the Post Office’s decision."


Now what is happening in early May that might have made the Labour government delay this unpopular decision? Might it be the local elections? What do you think? Mind you the Labour party are heading for such a defeat in the 2008 local elections anyway that this one delayed decision will make little difference; either way Gordon Brown is going to be in severe trouble with his party - that's if he manages to limp on until then.