Postal Services Bill

Lord Beith Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

When social historians come to study the Post Office/Royal Mail between 1980 and 2010, they will wonder how a great British institution, which was exported around the world and was copied by other nations, was allowed to go downhill so quickly. Successive Governments during those 30 years have to share equal blame. The number of post office closures was considerably greater under the Labour Government than in the years of the previous Conservative Government. In my constituency—I am sure that this was repeated around the country—the number of sub-post offices was almost halved under Labour Government policies that were both deliberate and had unintended consequences. For example, no joined-up government was involved when that Government’s Department for Work and Pensions put the delivery of Government mail out to the private sector. What makes the situation even worse is that the final journey of every privatised letter and package delivered in this country makes the Post Office/Royal Mail a loss; every private package and private letter is subsidised by the public purse.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

Does my hon. Friend know that when I went to meet postmen, as I always do at Christmas, I found that what bothered them more than anything about the Bill was not so much the privatisation element—although they did not particularly welcome that—but that they were walking up drives, delivering letters at a loss? That suggests that the kind of inter-business agreement that led to that regulatory requirement showed a serious deficiency in Post Office management.

[Bob Russell]

I endorse that. I, too, like many right hon. and hon. Members, visited my local sorting office. It is safe to say, without any contradiction, that morale is not high.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Alan Beith]

The more I read the new clause, the objective of which I fully support, the more concerned I am that if it were in the Bill the Minister would be open to judicial review from an aggrieved party who made an unsuccessful bid to buy Royal Mail and wanted to judicially review the Minister’s unreasonableness in going ahead with a sale on the basis of an agreement between Royal Mail and the Post Office.

[Mr Davey]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Let us be absolutely clear: the problem with Royal Mail has been the inaction, particularly from the previous Government, that has led to its parlous state. We do not want to create significant risks of legal challenge that would undermine the modernisation and investment process that Royal Mail needs to deliver on the universal postal service and that we need to ensure that the post office network does not have to face the closure programmes we saw under the previous Government.