ANOTHER ominous twist was uncovered at the weekend in the small print over government plans to close 2,500 mainly rural post offices: they want to close an estimated 1,000 village shops too.

Conservative MPs have discovered that if sub-post office owners are offered compensation to close down, they will have to agree to give up other services which might compete with surviving PO branches, like selling lottery tickets, taking payment for gas and electricity bills, or becoming depots for private mail companies.

They estimate that some 1,000 village shops might just be able to struggle on without the Royal Mail business – but having been stripped of these further services, they would be unable to operate at a profit.

The move – revealed at a time when the government is claiming to be conducting national “consultation” on which branches must close – is being described as “government by blackmail” by MPs in rural constituencies.

But the entire consultation process has already been condemned as a “farce” by rebel Labour MP Kate Hoey, a former sports minister, who says the closure decisions have already been taken.

And dozens of Labour MPs, including several ministers who voted for the closures in cabinet meetings, are now joining local protests when they discovered that branches in their own constituencies were facing the axe.