Miliband is 'paid by the trade unions to oppose RM sale'

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Cameron: Miliband is 'paid by the trade unions to oppose Royal Mail sale'

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The Telegraph: David Cameron has accused Ed Miliband of attacking the sale of Royal Mail because he is “paid by the trade unions”.

The Prime Minister said the sale of Royal Mail was a cause for “celebration” because it had generated £2 billion for the Exchequer and granted shares to thousands of postal workers. He said Labour had criticised the sale on the orders of trade unions that donate to the Labour Party.

A National Audit Office report questioned whether the sale presented value for the taxpayer because the share price soared in the days afterwards.

Mr Miliband said the service had been “flogged” at “mates’ rates” to the Prime Minister’s friends in the City.

The Labour leader challenged Mr Cameron to name today's share price compared with the initial sale offering of 330p. Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Miliband claimed: "The taxpayer... got £1.4 billion less for this valuable asset than it is worth today.

"A third of the shares were sold to just 16 city investors. And get this - there was a gentleman's agreement those city investors wouldn't sell the shares. What happened? Within weeks half of those shares had been sold and they made a killing worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

"In other words mates rates to your friends in the city."

The “gentleman’s agreement” referred to a finding by the NAO that City investors would be allocated shares if they abided by an “expectation” that they hold onto them in order to provide the new business with stability.

Mr Miliband said: "You have gone as red as a post box and that is because you have lost £1.4 billion for the taxpayer.

"This is a taxpayer sale nobody wanted and nobody voted for. A national asset sold at a knock down price to make a fortune for the few.

"It's a symbol of a Government which stands up for the wrong people, with the British people paying the price."

Mr Cameron said the previous Labour government and sought but failed to sell the Royal Mail.

He told the Commons: "You sat in a Cabinet that wanted to privatise the Royal Mail - that was the commitment.

"What happened was the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union said this: 'In terms of the last Labour government, they tried to privatise the Royal Mail, it was the unions that brought the government to its senses'.

"Once again, they were weak in government because they couldn't carry out their policies, they are weak in opposition because they don't support shareholding by post workers in the Royal Mail, they are weak because they have no economic policy, and they are weak because they have got no plan."

He continued: "The truth is this. You sat in a Cabinet that wanted to privatise the Royal Mail, they couldn't do it... because the trade unions won't let them. There are now 140,000 shareholders working for the Royal Mail, there are almost three quarters of a million members of the public with shares.

"These are signs for celebration in our country not talking them down because they are anti-market, anti-competitive, and anti-business.”

Mr Cameron was accused of mis-speaking after claiming a promise to sell the Royal Mail featured in the Labour manifesto. The 2010 manifesto contained a pledge to modernise and invest in the Royal Mail “in the public sector”.

Downing Street sources said Lord Mandelson had sought to sell a third of Royal Mail in 2009.

[ebbzie]

That Cameron is one c**t , labour didn"t sell RM because they listened to the people, yes thousands and thousands of trade union members. What did Con Dems do? listen to a dozen millionaire bankers and sell it , thieving f**king bas*ards