Privatisation is not the way, Mr Mandelson

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Conservative MP Edward Leigh welcomed Peter Mandelson to "the Thatcherite wing of the Conservative party" on 16 December in the House of Commons ("Mandelson goes to war on Labour mail rebels", News, last week). He hit the nail on the head.

The mantra that there is no alternative to the privatisation of Royal Mail is about as modern as feather-cut hair and flairs. Selling shares to CVC, the private equity business, is privatisation, even if 51% are held by government. And it is clear from both Richard Hooper, a former deputy chairman of the communications regulator Ofcom, and Lord Mandelson that the control of management passes to private hands.

Is this necessary? Last summer Hooper accepted the CWU and Unite assessment that liberalisation had benefited big business and banks but failed small businesses and domestic customers.

Royal Mail needs modern ideas: more mail needs to be machine sorted; new products such as same-day deliveries and intelligent mail should be introduced. This is not happening because of the preoccupation with privatisation.

We will be putting forward our alternative this week based around the BBC, Welsh Water and Railtrack models. Supporters of a publicly owned Royal Mail ask: if £1.3 trillion is OK for banks, why is there not the political will to sort Royal Mail? Perhaps there is a higher political purpose we have yet to see.
Billy Hayes, president CWU

It is difficult to get to grips with the logic of Peter Mandelson in justifying his determination to part-privatise Royal Mail. Here is an unelected minister perversely claiming that, if the sell-off doesn't go ahead, then Labour will be kicked out of office; this is reality turned upside down. The truth is surely that the party will be removed from office because of its unstinting support for the ethics of the free-market economy, the maelstrom of which has caused such serious financial disaster. The prime architects of Labour's ruin are who exactly? Such an accolade must go to Blair, Brown and, of course, Peter Mandelson, much noted for his admiration of wealth.
Francis Durham
Rickmansworth

Peter Mandelson cites the Hooper report to support part-privatisation of Royal Mail. This report is fundamentally flawed in its attempt to compare apples and oranges. Royal Mail cannot be fairly compared to its competitors because it does not operate with the same restrictions or regulatory obligations. The major problem facing Royal Mail is unfair competition. Since liberalisation of postal markets, the government-appointed regulator has introduced rules of competition which severely restrict Royal Mail yet benefit competitors. The balance of fair competition has been tipped so far in favour of our competitors that it is widely described as "the cherry-pickers' charter".

The government has belatedly decided to address this issue but the assertion that RM requires a strategic private partner is nonsense. Given a level playing field, the notion that TNT or any other operator could compete successfully with the Royal Mail is laughable.
Paul Lee
Acklam
Middlesbrough

Where will TNT get its money from to invest in the Royal Mail? The last time I looked, TNT did not have hundreds of millions under its bed. So I assume that it will be approaching the banks for a loan! The problem is that the taxpayer is bailing out the banks, so are we to use taxpayers' money for a private (public) injection of money?

I am a postie and I supported the Labour party but this latest wrangling is the last straw. The Tories will win the next election and full privatisation will occur: higher bills, worse service and a workforce depleted. Just like the Eighties all over again.
Paul Barbour
Exeter

[dvbuk55]

It is just possible that in order to put a bit back in the coffers before the next elections defeat they need the cash from the pension fund - of which it has been quiet for a week or two.

[norbert]

It is just possible that in order to put a bit back in the coffers before the next elections defeat they need the cash from the pension fund - of which it has been quiet for a week or two.

:cfo is supposed to be having a right row with TNT , as TNT have supposed to have been telling everyone that they will be buying up RM's European Parcel Business . Doesn't surprise me , all that aggressive and predator corporate takeover stuff .

very fishy , some reckon it's to keep Murdoch sweet so New Labour don't get too much of a pasting in the 2010 General Election - The Sun is the most popular paper
:mfo - surely there's going to be another scandal with the Old Queen of Darkness ??