The Royal Mail has told the government it wants to close more than 7,000 of its post offices - around half of the 14,400 post offices across Britain.

The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) is expected to make a statement on Thursday about the future of the Royal Mail network, which has already closed thousands of its post offices in the past seven years, reports The Times.

The announcement comes just days after the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, warned that the closure of many post offices was contributing to the poverty problem at the National Poverty Hearing last week.

The closure of so many post offices was, he said, "making life more difficult and painful".

Current losses of around £2m each week, despite a £150m-a-year subsidy from the government, are a major factor in Royal Mail's announcement.

Kate Hoey, Labour MP and chair of the all-party group for sub-post offices, said in The Times: "MPs of all political persuasions would be up in arms if cuts of this scale were to happen."

In November campaigners delivered a petition to Downing Street urging ministers to keep as many post offices as possible open in Britain. Rural communities in particular will suffer if the desired closures go ahead.

A DTI spokesman said: "We recognise the wider social role of the post office in communities.

"But also there is widespread recognition that the current size of the network is unsustainable."

The size of the network will depend on the amount of money that Royal Mail receives from the Treasury, a spokesman for the Royal Mail said.