Petition Calls For Halt To Strategic Partnership

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04 February 2009 by David Lynch - © Hellmail.co.uk

An online petition to PM Gordon Brown has been submitted by John Colbert, CWU Communications & Campaigns Manager. The petition, which calls on the government to reject plans to privatise Royal Mail, follows a growing Labour rebellion, said to be in excess of 100 MPs, some of whom have threatened to resign if forced to vote on the issue in the commons.

Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier, who has been warm to the idea of an outside investor for some time, supports plans which could see Dutch postal operator TNT buy a large share of the company. He said a 'strategic partnership' would be good for both Royal Mail and its customers.

However, the semi-privatisation of Royal Mail is not supported by the Communication Workers Union, which represents thousands of postal workers and now a growing number of Labour MPs have now added their voice to calls to keep Royal Mail in public ownership which will leave the government reliant on Conservative votes to see the plan through.

Parliamentary private secretary Jim McGovern (Dundee West MP), resigned a few weeks ago, saying that he did not support the proposals and therefore his job was untenable: "I do not support what looks to me like partial privatisation of the Royal Mail." he said.

Concerns have also been raised by the Business & Enterprise Select Committee that Royal Mail's finances were not transparent which made it difficult to decide if privatisation was the only way forward but Lord Mandelson backs the findings of the recent Richard Hooper report which concluded that the Universal Service would be unsustainable without massive investment. It concluded that a shareholder with expertise in turning around a struggling mail service, coupled with the investment a partnership would bring, was the only hope for the company.

Royal Mail posted a loss of £100m on the Universal Service in 2007. Royal Mail Chief Executive Adam Crozier said:

"The Universal Service is a huge asset for Royal Mail and for the nation as a whole. It is part of the fabric of our society and is vitally important both to social cohesion and to the UK economy. But it is now in the red for the first time - making an estimated loss of around £100million last year while the overall price controlled area of our business made an estimated loss of around £200million."

Some press reports suggest that the government are aiming to sell part of Royal Mail to a minority stakeholder as early as April this year.

The online petition is at:

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