Future of the Post Office
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 07:56, Sun 22 May 2011:
I totally opposed the part privatisation of Royal Mail and the Post Office when it was considered by the previous Government and I remain totally opposed to the current Coalition Government’s proposals.
Post Offices are a vital part of our community, not least in rural areas, where they are often the focal point of a village. If some commonsense and innovative thinking was to permeate the Post Office and Royal Mail then the Post Office could be a thriving business providing not just a traditional postal service but banking facilities and also carrying out a number of local authority tasks.
While it is true that the whole nature of the Post Office business has changed, with more use being made of the internet and less of traditional letters, the real problem arose because the European Commission brought in a Post Office Directive allegedly aimed at opening up ‘competition’ in postal services to ‘give the customer a better deal’. This always was nonsense but is part of the European Union’s objective of bringing ‘competition’ into every walk of life on the grounds that it would somehow benefit consumers. It does not.
I will continue to oppose the Postal Services Bill although I have no confidence whatsoever that the Conservative Government and their Lib.Dem collaborators will listen to what the public want.
Comments
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Posted by Maria Harvey, 09:18, Sun 22 May 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
I am no longer your constituent.
Posted by Lloyd Hughes, 14:35, Sun 22 May 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
You have no confidence in the Tories and Lib dems listening to the public? ..... and you do I suppose?
Posted by Hazel Neal, 14:49, Mon 23 May 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
If anyone can think of anything which has increased its efficiency since being privatised please tell me, it might make me less worried about the future of the health service. Hazel Neal
Posted by M K Parmar, 18:51, Mon 23 May 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
This has been part of the market economy dreive which states competition is good for the consumer. Unfortunately the Post Office is having to fight its corner gagged and hands tied - examples: 1) Some of the products offered by Irish bank through the post office were disallowed by govt. / regulator 2) The Royal Mail courier business was broken up so likes of TNT / DHL etc. could operate using cheap labour only to benefit the shareholdsers of big companies who use those services - no benefit to end consumer. All part of a plan to reduce the bloated Royal Mail pension fund cost. This situation has arisen because of lack of effective govt. from all sides of parliament- Tories and also Labour. There is no check on the efficiency of the parliament - something that needs serious consideration.