MPs have been urged to back a last-ditch attempt in Parliament to stop the closure of Sussex post offices.

The Conservative Party will today lead a debate to highlight the campaign against the Government's closure programme, which is expected to lead to the loss of about 50 post office branches across the county in the next few months.

The Tories are seeking support for a motion to "suspend" the 2,500 compulsory closures and look for ways to invest in the network.

The party has published a document naming dozens of Labour MPs - including three in Sussex - who have campaigned against closures in their constituencies and urged them to support the motion.

The Sussex MPs are Celia Barlow (Hove), David Lepper (Brighton Pavilion) and Michael Foster (Hastings and Rye).

Shadow post offices minister Charles Hendry, the MP for Wealden, said: "The motion picks up on all the key concerns that MPs have been raising with regard to the closure programme. It highlights the failings of the access criteria which have resulted in so many inappropriate recommendations for closures and it recognises that the consultation process has been deeply flawed.

"Above all, it recognises that we should be looking to see how we can invest in the post office network, rather than standing by and watching it decline.

"People will simply not understand if their MPs have said one thing to them locally but then fail to support them when they have the chance in this vote in Parliament."

Mr Foster dismissed the opposition's debate and motion as a "meaningless jamboree".

He said: "This is total hypocrisy on the part of the Conservatives. Under the previous Tory government significant numbers of post offices closed."

Labour had pledged £1.7 billion in subsidy and £150 million a year, he said, while the Tories had failed to commit to providing any extra investment.

Ms Barlow said she had been campaigning against the closure of two post offices in her constituency, in Hove and Portslade, rather than the closure programme as a whole. She believed the way Post Office Ltd assessed whether or not a branch should be closed was "flawed".

She added she would support any efforts by Brighton and Hove City Council to take over post offices to prevent them from closing.