Oral Answers to Questions

David Hamilton Excerpts

Wednesday 15th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman has made an extremely good point. I am sure that all Members in all parts of the House—many of whom will take the opportunity to visit sorting offices this Christmas—will want to record our support and thanks for the very good work that postal workers do throughout the country in ensuring that everything is delivered in time for Christmas. I know that they are having a particularly difficult time in Scotland. Additional air and rail services have been laid on to speed the movement of mail in and out of Scotland, and Royal Mail itself has made a big investment—of £20 million—to try to deal with the most severe weather that it has faced for 30 years.

Again, let us all pay tribute to those who will ensure that cards and presents are delivered on time.

[Mr David Hamilton (Midlothian) (Lab)]

Q7. The right hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce) is right. The situation has been horrendous in Scotland, and indeed in the north of England. The only people who are delivering are those in Royal Mail, as the private companies have offloaded their commitments on to it. The £20 million invested by Royal Mail is important. Will the Prime Minister give a straight answer to this question? Will he guarantee that universal service, and will he and his friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is sitting next to him, review Royal Mail’s privatisation and step back from it?

[The Prime Minister]

The whole point of trying to get private capital and management involved in Royal Mail is to make the service better, and to ensure that it can go on doing all the things that we want it to do. Opposition Members—including the Leader of the Opposition—shake their heads, but the fact is that they were going to present plans in the last Parliament, because even they realised that this needs to be done.