Salmond Royal Mail vow challenged

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/re ... -33871457/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

A senior member of the UK Government has challenged Scotland's First Minister to set out his plans for renationalising the Royal Mail as Alex Salmond wrote to the Labour leader calling for him to match the SNP's public ownership pledge.

Earlier this week, Mr Salmond vowed that if Scotland leaves the UK and he is in power, he would ''bring the Royal Mail, our postal service, back into public ownership''.

He repeated his pledge at a pro-independence rally in Edinburgh yesterday and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has asked him to provide details.

Mr Alexander said the plans were "chaotic, unplanned and uncosted" and left questions for the SNP to answer.

The UK Government has said it is going ahead with the privatisation by selling shares, sparking claims from opponents that it is ''selling off the family silver''.

The Royal Mail is a shared asset belonging to all parts of the UK, the First Minister said, and he has asked David Cameron to place a moratorium on its sale until after the independence referendum next year.

Mr Salmond has also written to Labour leader Ed Miliband calling for him to join the SNP's position.

He wrote: "As you approach your conference this weekend, I believe there is common ground between the Scottish Government, your delegates, the trade unions and the vast majority of the public in opposing this sale across the UK.

"Moreover, I believe that together there is an opportunity to stop this misguided sale in its tracks, should the Conservative Government be foolish enough to proceed with privatisation.

"I invite you to now make it clear that, if elected, you will bring the Royal Mail back into public ownership. By doing so, a clear message will be sent to potential buyers that this sale will not stand, thereby placing caveats on the prospectus, with the likely effect of rendering the flotation unviable."

Treasury Secretary Mr Alexander, who is also an MP for Inverness, wants to hear more about the SNP plans.

He said: "As part of the UK, the Universal Service Obligation provides a guaranteed six-day-a-week service at a single price to all parts of the UK. This guarantee is crucial to businesses and communities, allowing them to manage costs and receive a good service even in the most remote parts of Britain.

"As part of the UK, Scotland benefits from economies of scale which allow us to guarantee the universal service. The sale of shares will give Royal Mail future access to private capital and commercial disciplines, giving it a sustainable future and maintaining the Universal Service Obligation.

'It is for the Scottish Government to set out the detail of how a separate postal service would work in an independent Scotland and what the costs of maintaining that service would be. Given the high costs of delivery in many parts of Scotland, they also need to explain how the costs of maintaining a universal service in Scotland would be paid for, given that they would be simultaneously denying Scottish services the benefits of much needed private investment.

"With plans for independence seemingly being worked out day by day on the back of a postage stamp, this yet again reveals why Scotland is far stronger as part of the UK."

[fishtank]

Mr Alexander said the plans were "chaotic, unplanned and uncosted" and left questions for the SNP to answer.

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Built in 2003, Danny Alexander was the first functioning humanoid robot designed by a Scottish university. Although 10 years on it looks cumbersome and unsophisticated, its creators remain proud of their achievement.

"Obviously technology has moved on a lot since then," says Angus Troon, Professor of Robotics at the University of Strathspey. "There were various aspects we struggled with. We could never get it to move its lips while talking, and its smile was unrealistic and upset children. Plus it couldn't handle stairs and kept crashing into doors. But it can follow basic instructions and is useful for carrying boxes. It can take loads of up to 20 kilos."

Thanks to the media attention the robot attracted, the university was able to sell it in 2005 to the Liberal Democrats, who programmed it to generate rudimentary policy using a special algorithm. Three years ago they in turn sold it to George Osborne, who entertains guests at parties by making it imitate popular dance moves and say rude words. Famously, the constituents of a remote Highland seat staged a protest against career politicians by snubbing the human candidates and electing the robot as their MP, a role it has performed for the past eight years.

To mark the 10th anniversary of its unveiling, the robot was transported to Glasgow today for a live demonstration at the Lib Dem conference. Glitches remain (its movement are stiff and its voice is a mechanical monotone), but many delegates were interested to see it in action, and the hall was over two-thirds full.

To applause the robot lumbered across the stage, coming to a halt behind the lectern. It adjusted itself to face the delegates. "Conference!" it announced after a moment's silence. "It's great to have you here in Scotland. In Glasgow. Or as we like to call it in Inverness... the Deep South!"

[taxi4leighton]

as a labour supporter,i am saddened by their reaction to Salmonds pledge.instead of backing him,they have resorted to pathetic,immature point-scoring,i cringe when they use expressions like "has this been fully costed"!!!.what happened to Socialism?.do they not have any savvy?.this is what happens when politicians surround themselves with those of the same ilk,perhaps if they truly spoke to their constituents,they may get an idea of what real people(like posties} thought.i came to the conclusion years ago that most Labour leaders regard The Sun newspaper as the barometer of what working class people thought.that is why politics in this country have swung to the right

[Tman]

What, you mean Sun readers bother to vote?

Why would they give Salmond any back up or advantage when they (Labour) have lost votes to the SNP?

[rangtwice]

It's about time Plug from the Beano stood down and let a proper socialist take over.To long this country has been led by the jump on the latest bandwagon type politician.
MILIBAND OUT!!!!!

[fishtank]

Why would they give Salmond any back up or advantage when they (Labour) have lost votes to the SNP?

If you believe the polls and that takes a leap of faith in itself then the majority of the public,around 70% don't want Royal Mail sold so you either back Salmond's position and risk bolstering his position in Scotland or you back the losing horse and risk looking stupid all over the UK.

Not a pretty place to be in and no straightforward right or wrong answer but in my opinion I might have been tempted to go with the Salmond option at least in the short term.
Plenty time to distance yourself later if it all goes Pete Tong and as the Lib Dems have shown manifestos and pre-election promises are overrated anyway.

[goinpostal]

Its a sad day when a liberal party dressed up in the Tartan, that doesn't recieve a penny from the unions much less the CWU, actually takes a stand - out of purely political reasons - while Labour the party the unions have given millions to over the last few years, that got Ed Miliband elected, can't even say the same.

Even if the motion to renationalise gets passed at Labour's conference, I bet the leadership falls over itself to either say they won't do it (after all previous Labour conferences have passed votes that were ignored) or they will distance themselves from it and hedge it with all sorts of ifs and buts.

It will be a step forward and have a big impact on the sell off, but we will have to fight every step of the way to force them to follow through, and still have to strike to defend our pay, pension and T&Cs.