"Serious concerns over Government plans to part-privatize Royal Mail" Thurso

12.00.00am GMT Fri 13th Mar 2009

John Thurso MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business and Enterprise Secretary strongly attacked Government plans to part-privatize the Royal Mail today.

The MP for Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross put down an Early Day Motion in the Commons condemning the Government's plans and particularly protesting its failure to provide the funds for the Post Office network to modernize and failure to help create a Post Bank which could provide a banking service for all. John, who is also a member of the Treasury Select Committee, had previously called for a return of traditional forms of "Captain Mainwaring" banking.

Full text of Early Day Motion

EDM 1078

POSTAL SERVICES BILL [LORDS]

12.03.2009

Thurso, John

That this House notes the introduction of the Postal Services Bill in the House of Lords; notes that it fails to offer the investment needed to modernise the Post Office network and to enable it to develop new services, fails to facilitate the creation of a Postbank to offer banking services to all, fails to give the Royal Mail the ability to borrow on capital markets, fails to provide the enabling powers to widen the remit of the Post Office and Royal Mail to enable them to compete in new markets, fails to facilitate the creation of any form of employee shared ownership scheme or staff council for Royal Mail and fails to give customers a proper voice to hold the activities of Royal Mail and Post Office Limited to account; believes that the Bill will not therefore secure a sustainable and competitive future for either the Royal Mail or the Post Office network; and calls on the Government to incorporate all these features within the Bill and in addition to ensure that there is a universal service obligation in place on a statutory basis six days a week throughout the UK and to ensure that the Post Office network is ring-fenced as a discrete, publicly-owned network.