65% of voters oppose Mandelson's R M privatisation plan

[POSTMAN]

65% of voters oppose Mandelson's Royal Mail privatisation plan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog ... -mail-poll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's not really a day for hard-edged politics at Westminster. That's probably just as well for Lord Mandelson, because the death of Ivan Cameron has coincided with the release of three new stories about the unpopularity of his plans for the partial privatisation of the Royal Mail.

Taken together, they suggest that the business secretary has got his work cut out if he wants to have any chance of ever getting his bill on to the statute book.

1. Most members of the public are opposed

PoliticsHome has released a poll this morning suggesting that 65% of voters are opposed to Mandelson's plans and that only 24% are in favour. This is a proper poll, not just one of the PoliticsHome surveys of Westminster opinion. Tory voters are marginally more in favour than Labour or Lib Dem ones, but even they are against partial privatisation by a margin of two to one. As Nick Robinson said on the BBC last night, it's one thing taking on the Labour left (as Tony Blair used to do) when the public are with you. But doing so when you have the public against you is rather different.

2. Most Labour MPs are opposed

The Independent has published a poll this morning suggesting that most Labour backbenchers think that the plans are a bad idea too. The survey was carried out by ComRes, which received replies from 154 backbenchers (73 of them Labour). Only 28% of Labour respondents were in favour, and 58% were opposed. Although the Conservatives are officially in favour of Mandelson's plans, ComRes also found that 28% of Tory respondents were opposed.

3. Ministerial aides are opposed too

Parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) are not members of the government, but they are part of the payroll vote and they are supposed to support government policy (or resign if they don't). However, as the London Evening Standard reports, five of them have now signed a Commons motion opposing partial privatisation. In normal circumstances this would not be allowed, and the fact that they have not been reprimanded is being interpreted in some quarters as evidence that Nick Brown, the chief whip, is not 100% committed to the Mandelson masterplan.

Mandelson is due to publish his bill tomorrow. It may be time for a few concessions ...

[BELIAL]

It's not a f***ing democracy you know