POSTAL strikes have cost Britain one million working days over the last ten years due to delays a local MP has claimed.

Anne McIntosh, the Vale of York MP, has attacked the Royal Mail over this latest rounds of strike action.

The North Yorkshire MP has expressed dismay over the large number of days being lost due to Post Office industrial action.

The Conservative’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Thirsk and Malton at the next election raised the issue as a parliamentary question.

Figures revealed by Miss McIntosh show that the lowest number of working days lost was 1,167 in 2008-09 and the most was 627,608 in 2007-08.

She said: "In the past decade, nearly one million working days have been lost due to industrial action at Royal Mail.

"This has brought huge disruption to people across North Yorkshire, causing backlogs that prevent important letters being received.

"This strike action will lead to constituents in the Vale of York suffering as letters sent to me will take much longer to reach my office, and they will experience delays in my responses.

"Businesses in the Vale of York are already struggling under the strain of Labour’s recession and this postal strike may tip some over the edge.

"This dispute cannot go on and the country needs to see some real political leadership to end this unwarranted and unnecessary strike action."

There was no strike action at the Northallerton postal sorting office, in North Yorkshire, and no response from sorting offices in Thirsk and Richmond on October 22.