Govt should opt out of EU legislation to try to save RM

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Government should opt out of EU legislation to try to save Royal Mail

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SIR – You report (December 24) that the sale of the Royal Mail may signify the end of daily deliveries at a flat price. In a separate article on the same day, George Osborne, the Chancellor, commendably urges that Britain should pull back from the EU. The two are directly related: the EU's Third Postal Directive will threaten the Royal Mail by removing its protection for letters under 50g.

EU directives have already brought the Royal Mail to its knees. Norway, which is out of the EU in a "pulled back" position, is refusing to implement this directive under its European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. We could do the same if we rejoined the European Free Trade Area we created in 1960 and also signed up to the EEA Agreement.

However, we are in a strong position to negotiate an agreement, which refuses to implement many other of the EU's laws. I commend that course of action.

David Campbell Bannerman MEP (Con)
Cambridge

SIR – Ministers discussing the sale of the Royal Mail are considering changes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO). However, this is enshrined in EU regulations, and the only legitimate change would be a reduction to a five-day delivery which is acceptable within EU legislation.

Changes to the delivery pattern, and the consequential savings, could be secured by alternatives to the way deliveries are made to difficult locations. Namely, flats could be delivered at ground floor only; houses with long drives by garden gate boxes. There's a long way to go to retain profitability before abandoning the USO heritage.

Keith Webb
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

SIR – Only the Royal Mail maintains an office in every postal district, only the Royal Mail lets you collect undelivered items outside office hours and only the Royal Mail keeps them for three weeks, so that if they arrive while you are away from home you have a chance to collect them.

The Government needs to learn that the Royal Mail is there to serve the people; it should let the company compete on level terms, either by obliging the competition to offer a similar universal service, including delivery to outlying Scottish islands and remote Pennine farms at the same price as to central London, or by letting the Royal Mail charge what it likes for the competition's leftovers.
I hate to think what a nightmare sending Christmas cards will be in the future if the current proposals go ahead.

Andrew J Rixon
Hertford

SIR – To lose the USO will further destroy what was once one of Britain's greatest assets. The more the service deteriorates, the more people will find alternative means of communication. If America can have a flat price for post being sent anywhere in the country, why can't the Royal Mail?
Marcia MacLeod
London NW6