A Birmingham councillor threatened with jail in a row over post office closures has hit back at his critics. John Hemming, leader of Birmingham's Liberal Democrat group, said the Government and Labour MPs should admit they "supported the government policy of 3,000 urban sub-post offices closing". It followed a warning by the Speaker of the House of Commons that Coun Hemming (Acocks Green), Ray Holtom (Lib Dem Weoley) and Peter Osborn (Con Weoley) could be punished under laws dating back to 1699. Post Office Ltd's decision to close 29 branches in the south of the city has prompted a bitter battle between Labour MPs and councillors from the other parties. The MPs launched a campaign to keep the post offices open. But Liberal Democrats and Conservatives say the closures are a result of Government policy - which Labour MPs have supported in the House of Commons. In October 2002, they backed the Government in a Commons vote on paying compensation to sub-postmasters whose businesses closed. And in January this year, Labour MPs voted against a Conservative motion which "deplores the programme to close 3,000 urban post offices". Instead, they backed a Government motion which " congratulates the Government for its commitment to modernise and invest in the national network of post offices". Labour MPs say they were supporting proposals to pay compensation, and to invest in remaining post offices. However a leaflet published by Coun Hemming and distributed to the public claimed they had "voted for closure of the sub-post offices". Similar claims have been made by Coun Osborn and Coun Holtom. Mr Burden asked the Speaker to intervene. He accused the councillors of "deliberate misreporting outside this place of proceedings within it, including the doctoring of quotes". But Coun Hemming said: "Labour are closing 3,000 subpost offices. It is no good the government claiming it is nothing to do with them." Labour MPs had backed plans to 'modernise' the post office network, he said. "Everyone knows that ' modernising' the post office network means closing down a third of the post office network." | 
