A union official has poured cold water on claims that Kendal's main post office is under imminent threat of closure.

Kendal main post office, on Stricklandgate, and Ulverston post office are among 555 directly-managed or crown' post offices under review as the Royal Mail seeks to turn around losses of £70 million by Post Office Ltd in 2003/4.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins said the review threatened the Kendal post office with closure and met with senior Royal Mail managers to try to remove it from the list.

However, the secretary of the North Lancashire and Cumbria branch of the Communication Workers Union Andy Tatchell said: "The gun is not pointed at Kendal."

He said he thought Mr Collins might be trying to drum up support during what could turn out to be an election year.

However, he added: "I can understand people getting concerned (about the talk of closure). This is not to say one post office couldn't fall but I think he's doing a bit of chest-beating here. It's a non-event."

Responding for Mr Collins, his constituency assistant Mark Graham said the closure of Kendal's main post office had not been ruled out: "It's not a question of politics. We would hope this issue was of concern to everyone, whatever their political views."

Mick Fisher, Royal Mail Group head of government relations, said the review of directly-managed post offices was "not a closure programme".

Instead, he said, Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd were hoping to save money through bringing in franchise partners to help operate them.

Fewer than half the buildings housing the 555 directly-managed post offices are actually owned by Royal Mail/ Post Office Ltd. Selling or renting the ones they do own could bring in much-needed cash.

Mr Fisher could not say whether or not compulsory redundancies would be imposed in Kendal to cut costs but said the firms' track record was to cover staffing changes by redeployment, using voluntary redundancies and waiting for "natural turnover".

Ten staff are currently employed at the Kendal site.

In December, Royal Mail managers refused to rule out the closure of the two post offices which prompted the meeting between them and Mr Collins.

After the meeting, Mr Collins said: "The Royal Mail was able to confirm the Kendal General Post Office will not be in the first tranche of post offices due to close in the next financial year but it's a temporary reprieve - the threat is still there."