Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 12th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of the effect of the privatisation of Royal Mail on employment standards in the postal industry.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

12. What assessment he has made of the effect of the privatisation of Royal Mail on employment standards in the postal industry.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

13. What assessment he has made of the effect of the privatisation of Royal Mail on employment standards in the postal industry.

--- Later in debate ---

[Margot James]

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. The pension scheme, if left unchanged, would result in virtual bankruptcy for Royal Mail. It would require an injection of £1.3 billion annually, against profitability of approximately £700 million. I think he can do the maths himself.

[Afzal Khan]

Royal Mail is paying out over £200 million in dividends every year to private shareholders. Last year, the chief executive saw her pay increase by 23%. How can the Government stand by a model of ownership that sees postal workers’ pay being frozen and their pensions left unaffordable?

[Margot James]

I understand that Royal Mail’s offer of a pay increase to its workforce is far from frozen. I do not propose to comment much further, however, other than to say that the figures the hon. Gentleman refers to are misleading, because they go way beyond the chief executive’s base salary and include performance-related benefits, which are in line with a position of that stature.