Alan Reid MP questions Government Minister on Royal Mail (North Tayside Liberal Democrats)

North Tayside Liberal Democrats <info@libdems.org.uk>

Alan Reid MP questions Government Minister on Royal Mail

December 17, 2008 6:32 PM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll & Bute, today questioned Postal Services Minister, Pat McFadden, on the future funding of Royal Mail. Mr Reid was speaking in the House of Commons after the publication of the Hooper review of UK postal services.

Mr Reid told the Minister that Royal Mail faced unfair competition from private mail operators who cherrypicked the profitable parts of the mail business while leaving Royal Mail to carry out the expensive job of delivering mail to every home in the country.Alan Reid MP: Argyll & Bute

Mr Reid asked the Minister to consider imposing a levy on private mail companies and to use the proceeds to pay Royal Mail for fulfilling the Universal Service Obligation - a daily delivery to every home in the country. However, Mr McFadden refused to consider this.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Reid said, "I welcome the Government's promise to maintain the daily mail delivery to every home in the country. However, the fact that the Government are asking the Dutch postal company TNT to take a part stake in Royal Mail shows that Royal Mail is lagging behind other European countries and private competitors in terms of modern equipment. This has been caused by successive Governments failing to invest in Royal Mail.

"Even with the TNT investment, I still don't think that Royal Mail will have the resources to compete with the private sector cherrypickers. The only way to safeguard the daily delivery to every home is to impose a levy on the private mail companies and use the proceeds to pay Royal Mail for delivering to every home in the country."

NOTE: See http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=387728&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=True for the Government's statement