A RADICAL plan to save vulnerable post offices from closure by setting up a £1billion trust fund paid for from the part sale of the Government's share in Royal Mail will be outlined today by an East Anglian MP.

By Graham Dines

A RADICAL plan to save vulnerable post offices from closure by setting up a £1billion trust fund paid for from the part sale of the Government's share in Royal Mail will be outlined today by an East Anglian MP.

Tim Yeo (Conservative, Suffolk South) wants the shareholding to be offloaded to benefit employees, pensioners, and the Royal Mail itself and he will outline his innovative proposals in a speech this lunchtime to be given to the Social Market Foundation, a free enterprise think tank based in Westminster.

Under his plans, a quarter of the shareholding would be given, free of charge, to Royal Mail employees who would each receive shares worth £5,000.

Another quarter would be given to the group's pension fund, whose deficit would be cut by £1billion while vulnerable post offices would be supported by income from a £1bn trust set up for the purpose of preventing closures.

The final quarter of the Government's share would be sold off, which would enable £1bn to be injected of fresh capital to finance Royal Mail's future investment

To save local post offices from closure, his Post Office Community Trust would be a limited company wholly owned by the Government, operating under an independent chairman and board of directors.

“It will operate openly and transparently to maintain the branch network and to avoid unnecessary branch closures,” said Mr Yeo.

“The proposals strengthen the business, motivate the workforce, protect vulnerable post offices and fill the black hole in the pension plans.”

He added: “It's time to give away Royal Mail. My proposal should be welcomed by the Government and unions alike because every worker and pensioner will gain.”

Mr Yeo believes that local communities whose post office faced the threat of closure would support his proposals while the group's management would welcome the new investment of £1bn.

“It is time for a bolder experiment in popular capitalism. None of the former privatisations have involved giving away shares,” he said.

Mr Yeo, who is a former opposition spokesman on trade, industry and energy, is hoping his proposals will be picked by David Cameron's policy team and that it will eventually become Conservative Party policy.