Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business and Trade
Andy McDonald
Main Page: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)Department Debates - View all Andy McDonald's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
Andy McDonald Excerpts(1 day, 8 hours ago)
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Blair McDougall
The hon. Lady is right to pay tribute to her local posties. It is because we recognise the connection between the sustainability of the Royal Mail and the postal service and the conditions of workers and the importance of the talks that are going on, that the Secretary of State has been convening the meetings that I have mentioned, and he will continue to do so.
Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East) (Lab)
This situation is completely intolerable, as everybody has described. Will the Minister confirm that if the owners continue to fail to discharge their obligations as a matter of urgency, the option of taking Royal Mail back into public ownership will be fully considered, because that is popular with the public?
Blair McDougall
Our focus is on ensuring that the talks that are under way are productive, and that they end with measures that will get the delivery service improved and the business on to a sustainable footing. As I have mentioned, we have an undertaking that the owners are not allowed to take value out of the company until service standards improve.