25th May 2008

Cllr Philip Booth writes to local press calling for an end to the three main parties moves to ever more privatisation of our postal services.

When Labour came to power, the Post Office was a public monopoly contributing more than £100m a year to the public purse. Now with Labour's creeping privatisation and the Royal Mail's 350-year-old monopoly ended, the postal service is in deep crisis, yet the Royal Mail's chief executive is to get a £2m bonus.

A shocking independent review this month, found that liberalisation had only benefited big business, brought "no significant benefits" to consumers or small businesses, and created a "substantial threat" to the future of Royal Mail. Certainly EU directives, supported by Tory and Labour, have required the opening up of services to competition. However Britain has chosen to go further than required and failed to use the available protective measures.

Tories may oppose PO closures, but fail to commit to even current levels of financial support and like the Lib Dems and Labour want to see more privatisation of Royal Mail. Yet how will privatisation protect unprofitable parts of the universal service or Gloucestershire's threatened post offices? Already rigged rules allow corporations to cherry-pick the hugely profitable services like bulk mail which previously underwrote remote deliveries.

We now have a worse service, PO closures, lower pay to workers, but big profits for corporations. We are long overdue challenging the privatising dogma that has created this crisis. Let us hope that Stroud Town Council's proposal of £75k over 3 years for the profitable Uplands PO is accepted and that the County Council can come up with an Essex-style PO rescue.

Cllr. Philip Booth, Stroud District Green Party.