My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. The problem is not restricted to high streets. In small rural constituencies, there may be one village shop, where the local post office is located. The post
office network is also being put at risk as such small village shops are unable to make a profit. Therefore, we risk losing post office services. We are facing that now in East Lothian. Post office closures may not be planned, but that may be a consequence of the Government’s economic choices.
It seems almost too simplistic to make this point, but Government Members have boasted about the fact that the Government are hurting the richest 10% the most. However, if the Government choose to take £25 a week from a rich family, it will have a lot less impact than taking £17 a week from a hard-working family. Taking that from the richest will not mean they will present themselves at food banks looking for assistance to put food on the table, but that is what the Government are forcing working families increasingly to do. We look forward—look forward is perhaps the wrong term—to hearing the Trussell Trust’s latest figures on the number of people it has fed over the past year. All the indications are that the number has increased significantly; it may be over 500,000. That is a matter of real concern.