Assembly rejects postal privatisation

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Government moves to sell off part of Royal Mail have been unanimously rejected in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Tuesday, 02 June 2009

All parties backed a motion objecting to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson's plan for a joint venture between a foreign private operator and the postal service.

DUP Strangford MLA Jim Shannon was among those who proposed today's debate.

"All five parties spoke in favour of the notice of motion. Leave Royal Mail alone, leave the postal service alone, privatisation is something that none of us anywhere want to see," he said.

Last month Post Office Minister Pat McFadden said the government's proposals to sell off a 30% stake in Royal Mail remained the "most convincing" option.

His department argues that Royal Mail's multi-billion pound pension deficit and the increasing popularity of e-mail means it cannot survive in its current form and needs outside investment.

But its critics, including the Communication Workers' Union, say the government's plan would "nationalise the pension fund and privatise the profit".

Many Labour backbenchers are opposed to the plan.

Mr Shannon said only 6% of people polled recently backed privatisation, shrinking to 3% if it involved foreign investment. The DUP Assembly member said 65% of those asked said not to make any change at all.

"At a time of elections no-one should ignore 65% of the people who say not to touch Royal Mail."

He added: "I believe it is threatened and there's no doubt in my mind what Peter Mandelson has proposed to do or is looking at doing would change the post office service forever.

"It is important for us to put the marker down."

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Full debate now available in print form at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ni/?id=2009-06-02.3.1&s=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;