Scots 'overwhelmingly' satisfied with Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/20 ... royal-mail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



New figures show more people in Scotland than any other part of the UK support Royal Mail, as the UK Government continues to privatise it.

An Ofcom survey on attitudes towards Royal Mail concluded that people in Scotland are “significantly more likely to say they are very satisfied, compared to people across the whole of the UK” (67% v 40%), and overall 93% of people in Scotland said they were satisfied with Royal Mail.

Despite 78% of Scots MPs voting against Royal Mail privatisation in the House of Commons, business secretary Vince Cable recently announced that the UK Government will sell Royal Mail through a flotation on the London Stock Exchange. The SNP have questioned why this privatisation is being inflicted in Scotland when Scots are clearly satisfied with the organisation’s current performance.

Commenting, SNP spokesperson for postal services Mike Weir MP said:

“These new figures show just how high support is for the Royal Mail in Scotland, yet the views of Scots are being ignored by Westminster.

“The UK government’s decision to privatise the Royal Mail poses real danger to the postal service, and in particular, the universal service obligation which is of huge importance to Scotland. A privatised postal service in a competitive market will undoubtedly put pressure on government to reduce the terms of the USO, as its competitors “cherry pick” the profitable urban routes leading to a reduced service in rural and less affluent areas.

“Recent figures show 77 per cent of Scots are totally opposed to the privatisation of Royal Mail- also more than any other part of the UK. Vince Cable has spouted nonsense about independence being a threat to postal services yet Scotland could be losing their post offices due to a UK government they did not elect. Only with independence can Scotland be assured of a mail service that meets the needs of Scotland and our communities rather than the money men of London.

“In previous Tory privatisations they trumpeted the idea of mass shareholding but the truth is that many were soon sold, the numbers of people holding shares peaked in 1997 and has steadily declined since. Most of the privatised companies, such as the energy companies, were soon taken over and most have now ended up as divisions of overseas companies. It is highly likely that Royal Mail will soon end up losing its independence and becoming part of one of the larger European mail companies, or worse still, fall into the hands of those seeking to asset strip the organisation.”

Ofcom survey: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binari ... land_6.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -see Table 6.8 for satisfaction survey

House of Commons vote:
This vote is from the Third (and final) reading of the Postal Service’s Bill which enabled the Government to privatise Royal Mail.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 10112/debt.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

The House of Commons divided: Ayes 319, Noes 238. -- Ayes – 57.27% / Noes – 42.7%

Scottish MPs: Ayes 11, Noes 39 -- Ayes– 22% / Noes – 78%

Breakdown: Ayes: 1 Tory / 10 LDs -- Noes: 6 SNP / 33 Labour -- Absent: 8 Labour / 1 LibDem

Support for Royal Mail:
77% of Scots oppose Royal Mail privatisation
Poll:
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cu ... 0ugkse5uv5.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.