Nearly 70 post offices in the Bradford area could be axed if the Royal Mail carries out its planned cull, the Tories have claimed.

A total of 69 outlets stretching across the parliamentary constituencies of Bradford North, Bradford South, Bradford West, Keighley and Shipley could close if the national network is slimmed down to 4,000 branches, according to the party's research.

This is the minimum level at which the Royal Mail has said that it could run a commercial network.

The area has lost 22 post offices between 1999 and 2005, including the Exchange Post Office in Bank Street, Bradford.

The Tories say future closures could dwarf those and predict 17 post offices closing in Bradford West, 16 in Keighley, 15 in Shipley, 11 in Bradford North and ten in Bradford South.

But the Department of Trade and Industry today described the Tories' claim as "nonsense".

The department insisted that it would continue to use public money to prop up offices which were not commercially viable and that the network would not be allowed to fall to only 4,000 branches overall.

Charles Hendry, the Tories' Post Offices spokesman, said: "Under Labour, about a quarter of the Post Office network has closed and more cuts will happen as a result of Labour's plans to abolish the Post Office card account from 2010."

Bradford North Labour MP Terry Rooney accused the Tories of scaremongering. He said: "Post Office chief executive officer Adam Crozier said it could work on 4,000 post offices but he also said there was no way we can go from where we are now to that service."

Peter Finlay, north east regional secretary for the National Federation of SubPostmasters, said although the Tories' estimates could be seen as political scaremongering, there was a real fear about the future.

Mr Finlay, who runs Menston Post Office, said: "Sub postmasters in the Bradford area are truly worried about their future as they have lost 60 per cent of Government work in the last two years and some have seen a dramatic decrease in income.

"The bottom line is people are looking at the financial implications and if they are given the chance to leave the business they may."

A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry said it was "complete nonsense" to suggest the number of post outlets could fall as low as 4,000. He said: "That is the figure that Royal Mail has said it could run a commercial network with.

"We have made clear that there is also a community role for post offices, so there will always be a public subsidy for some that are not commercially viable."

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