A petition has been started to try to save rural post offices from closure.

Post offices in the Lewes district are petitioning the Government after plans were announced earlier this month to close almost 7,000 branches nationally.

The Government subsidises the Post Office by £150 million a year. This year losses amounted to £4 million a week and the Post Office is making cuts in an effort to ensure profits.

Eighty post offices in Sussex have closed since 2002, when it was revealed the Post Office was struggling financially.

Rural areas are expected to be worst hit. In the Lewes district, four of the 26 post offices are thought to be under threat.

Post Office area manager Peter Wilkinson said the Government may also look at reducing the opening hours of some branches to save cash.

The anti-closure petition has been organised by Lewes Conservative group.

Jason Sugarman, the Conservatives' Parliamentary spokesman for the Lewes constituency, said: "Post offices provide a lifeline to communities but their future is now under real threat. Some 4,000 have been shut since 1999 and further closures will hit the vulnerable and elderly the hardest.

"Our petition will help send Labour the message that its plans will not be tolerated. These cuts can be stopped but only if we stand up for our post offices together. I hope people will join me in saying no to more closures."

Postmasters have already handed a four million signature petition to Downing Street in an attempt to save branches.

It urged ministers to keep subsidising the network and reverse the decision to phase out the Post Office card account, one of the largest income sources.

Almost 400 MPs signed an early day motion calling for that decision to be reversed.

The Government is holding a consultation on the proposed closures, which will continue until March 8.

For details, go to www.dti.gov.uk/consultations/page 36024.html