MP Tony Baldry has pledged to fight local job losses after Consignia's announcement of a restructuring prog- ramme.

Consignia, formerly called the Post Office, is losing £1.5m each day and looks set to cut its workforce by up to 40,000 to save an estimated £1.2bn.

The firm has said employees at its depots in Cowley and Kidlington are safe, but Mr Baldry is worried about the future of staff at post offices in the county.

The Banbury MP, whose constituency covers much of north Oxfordshire, has promised to use every Parliamentary procedure possible to avoid job losses in the area, and has already written to the Government calling for new initiatives to stem the flood of post office closures.

He said: "The Government has got itself into a grim situation and it is likely that north Oxfordshire will not be able to escape the impact of the proposed redundancies.

"In the last year, hardly a week has gone by without a letter informing me of another village post office surrendering its tenancy.

"With the exception of a few large villages there are now no rural post offices left in my constituency.

"Now the announcement of another 3,000 closures threatens the remaining services."