There have been protests against post office closures in Ebbw Vale

Mr Hain addressed a group of campaigners from Ebbw Vale who were protesting outside the Welsh assembly buildings in Cardiff against the proposed closure of seven Post Offices in Blaenau Gwent.

He said that the case against the closures, six in Ebbw Vale and one in Tredegar, was "unanswerable".

But Royal Mail have defended their closure proposals saying that they are under used and not generating enough money.

Royal Mail's Dave Barrett said that no decision would be made until a public consultation is completed next week.

We haven't got enough business to justify the same number of Post Offices Dave Barrett, Royal Mail

"We simply have got too many Post Offices chasing too little business," he said.

"We are losing money hand over fist. We lost �190m last year, �160m the year before, we simply can't go on bleeding to death like this.

"We have got to cut our cloth accordingly. We haven't got enough business to justify the same number of Post Offices and the ones we are proposing to close in Blaenau Gwent are really very small ones.

"We are not closing all of them, there are 29 in Blaenau Gwent and we are proposing to close seven of them - that still leaves 22," he added.

The proposed closure is part of a programme of 150 closures across Wales.

Increasing amounts of benefits are now being paid into bank accounts, meaning that fewer people use small post offices.

In October 2002, MPs backed the proposed closure of up to 3,000 urban post offices across the UK.

The proposals included plans to make funding available to compensate sub postmasters for the cost of closures, and for improvements to the remaining post offices.

They are the focal points of the community they have been there for generations and we want to keep them Peter Law, AM

Blaenau Gwent MP Llew Smith and AM Peter Law met with Welsh Secretary Peter Hain at the Welsh assembly on Monday to discuss the closure programme in Wales.

Four coach-loads of Ebbw Vale residents presented a petition against the closures to the Royal Mail after a meeting with Mr Hain.

"The problem is the Post Office are trying to steal away community facilities that have been there for generations," said Peter Law.

"Its a disgrace. They are the focal points of the community they have been there for generations and we want to keep them," he added.

Some residents living in Blaenau Gwent claim not enough thought has been given to provision of services to elderly and disabled people, who would be forced to travel to main post offices under the plans.

Rose Beazley says the closures will affect elderly and disabled people

Motorised wheelchair user, Rose Beazley, 65, said disabled people and pensioners would have difficulty reaching town centre post offices if smaller branches closed.

"If my husband is ill and I need to get my pension, I can go round to that (local) post office," she said.