PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF ROYAL MAIL (10 July 2005)

That this House welcomes the commitment from the Government in its General Election manifesto that `...we have given the Royal Mail greater commercial freedom and have no plans to privatise it. Our ambition is to see a publicly-owned Royal Mail fully restored to good health, providing customers with an excellent service and its employees with rewarding employment. We will review the impact on the Royal Mail of market liberalisation, which is being progressively introduced under the Postal Services Act 2000 and which allows alternative carriers to the Royal Mail to offer postal services'; notes that the industry's regulator, Postcomm, has proposed to initiate a complete liberalisation of the postal market in advance of EU liberalisation and that the regulator has further proposed to introduce an extremely restrictive price control; expresses concern that these two initiatives are being pursued with no reference to the anticipated review of the impact of the Postal Services Act 2000 on the Royal Mail; calls upon the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to initiate the review as soon as possible with the aim of strengthening the ability of Royal Mail to retain the Universal Service Obligation; and urges the Royal Mail and the Government to agree a business plan which is in line with the commitment given in the General Election manifesto and which provides for a successful publicly-owned Royal Mail with all shares continuing to be owned by the Government.

Sponsored by:
John Grogan (Labour)