ROYAL MAIL EXTRACTS FROM MANIFESTOS -

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I will add manifesto quotes for all and any party I can find or people can provide a link to - However please start new threads if you wish to discuss them as this will help keep the thread tidy.

LABOUR

http://www.labour.org.uk/uploads/TheLab ... o-2010.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Post Office has an invaluable role to play in our communities and in serving local businesses. To promote trusted and accessible banking, we will transform the Post Office into a People’s Bank offering a full range of competitive, affordable products. This will help sustain the network and boost competition in Banking.

The universal postal service delivered by the Royal Mail connects and binds us together as a country. We are firmly committed to the 28 million homes and businesses across the country receiving mail six days a week, with the promise that one price goes everywhere. The Royal Mail and its staff are taking welcome
and needed steps to modernise work practices. For the future, continuing modernisation and investment will be needed by the Royal Mail in the public sector.

We will introduce a universal service obligation on retail banks, so that all consumers with a valid address have a legal right to a basic bank account, and a right to redress if this is refused. Banks will have to publicly report on the extent to which they are under-serving communities. And we will introduce a new
levy on the banks to help fund a step-change in the scale of affordable lending by third sector organisations, including a new partnership with the Post Office, offering an alternative to loan sharks and high-cost doorstep lending.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

CONSERVATIVES

http://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws ... lowres.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nothing underlines the powerlessness that many communities feel more than the loss of essential services, like post offices and pubs, because of decisions made by distant bureaucrats. Our new ‘community right to buy’ scheme will give local people the power to protect any community assets that are threatened with closure. In addition, we will:

• give people a ‘right to bid’ to run any community service instead of the state; and,
• reform the governance arrangements in football to enable co-operative ownership models to be established by supporters.


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give Post Office Card Account holders the chance to benefit from direct debit discounts, worth up to £150 a year

[TrueBlueTerrier]

UKIP

http://www.ukip.org/media/pdf/UKIPManifesto2010.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This manifesto illustrates how withdrawal from the EU can benefit the UK right across the spectrum, from immigration to crime, tax, jobs and the economy, pensions, public services, and even through to animal welfare and Post Offices. Few realise just how much the EU now controls and interferes with our day-to-day lives, despite never having obtained permission to do so from the British people.

· Safeguard British weights and measures (the pint, the mile, etc) which have been undermined by the EU. UKIP will also provide proper support to the Royal Mail and the Post Office as a key British institution

The Post Office & the Royal Mail

UKIP regards the Royal Mail and our Post Office network as an essential part of the fabric of British life, and will fully support, improve and retain these services.

Download the full Post Office & the Royal Mail policy from the Policies section of http://www.ukip.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; http://www.ukip.org/content/ukip-polici ... royal-mail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Freedom of Action
No longer will our country have to grovel to the EU for permission to spend our own money to save our Post Offices, car plants or power stations, or to negotiate our trade deals and determine our destiny.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Anyone who is a member of a Party that does not yet have its Manifesto on this thread please PM me when it comes out and with a link if possible.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Plaid Cymru



http://www.plaidcymru.org/uploads/publications/467.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


In the Plaid Cymru Manifesto there is no mention of the Post Office or Royal Mail.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://issuu.com/libdems/docs/manifesto ... wMenu=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Give both Royal Mail and post offi ces a long-term future, by
separating Post Offi ce Ltd from the Royal Mail and retaining Post
Offi ce Ltd in full public ownership. 49 per cent of Royal Mail will be
sold to create funds for investment. The ownership of the other 51 per
cent will be divided between an employee trust and the government.


Improve access to banking for all with a PostBank, revenues from
which will also help to secure the future of the Post Offi ce.



End the post offi ce closure programme to keep post offi ces open
in rural areas where they’re the lynchpin of community life, improve
access to banking and help secure the future of the Post Offi ce
through a PostBank.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/n ... festo.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are no references to the communication sectors in the Scottish Socialist Party Manifesto.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/fil ... b_file.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Green Party opposes the trend towards bigger schools, hospitals, councils and prisons, and more centralised surgeries and Post Offices. Many so-called efficiency savings are bought at a high social cost: isolation, inaccessibility, impersonality, remoteness. They also make our communities less able to cope with
change. Communities and services must be on a human scale. Size matters. Quality local services are much more important than having a phony choice between a number of distant ones.

We would:

• Reopen those Post Offices that misguided Government policy has shut down, and eventually increase their number.We would set aside £1bn per year to subsidise the local Post Office network.

• Use our proposals to revitalise the Post Office network (see page 19), in particular to help small businesses.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.dup2win.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post offices remain a lifeline for older people particularly in rural areas. It is important that our network of post offices is retained. Situating other services in post offices can contribute to them surviving as sustainable community hubs.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/p ... ifesto.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and we will work to protect postal services across Scotland by opposing
any changes to the Royal Mail that will weaken the universal delivery
obligation. We support the creation of a post bank to enable Post Offices
to provide a greater range of banking services for many of our smaller
towns and rural areas.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

CO-OPERATIVE PARTY AGENDA

http://party.coop/images/2010%20manifesto.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The decline in the availability of rural services has been well documented, with pubs, shops and other services closing at a faster rate than ever before. Rural co-operatives and social enterprises, such as community-owned rural shops or post offices, are often the only viable alternative for rural communities looking to retain or re-introduce a service in areas of private or public market failure. In many rural areas mutual social enterprises are filling the void left by retreating public and private sector providers, and offer the best available solution to social exclusion and service access problems.

Often essential rural services are run as private businesses. When the proprietor decides to retire, close the business or move from the community – the availability of these services is often at risk. Whether services are closed by the public or private sector, rural communities should be empowered to take control of the services that impact on their everyday lives.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.ukip.org/content/ukip-polici ... royal-mail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry cant extract much as the page linked above is too large and very detailed and deals only with RM and PO but a brief extract will help members see UKIPs main position:

. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills will license private operators to operate in the postal services sector (including the Royal Mail) judging all tenders by the following criteria:
a. The value to the consumer
b. The social value the company’s operations will provide
c. The efficiency with which the company will send a standard, first class letter to the furthest part of the UK from London
d. The ability of the business to run efficiently, to control costs and company debt and sustain an affordable pension scheme
e. The payments they can provide to help meet the Royal Mail’s public sector obligations
f. A fairer contribution to the ‘last mile’ service provided by the Royal Mail. Private operators still use Royal Mail for local deliveries right across the UK.