Postal Services Bill

Malcolm Wicks Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

Let us be clear that the commitment that Royal Mail has made is that the refreshed or new IBA would be entered into before separation. We, and the EU legislation that I mentioned, say that there is a problem if the Government legislate for such a long contractual arrangement. The hon. Gentleman is not paying attention to the constraint on the Government.

[Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab)]

Let us put to one side the earlier amusing moment when a radical said that he needed a precedent before acting—fortunately, that did not stop Lloyd George in 1906 with old-age pensions. The Minister has read the careful legal advice from departmental lawyers. Are they saying that it would be difficult to accept the new clause, or have they ruled it out entirely as clearly illegal? Will he tell us what the advice is?

[Mr Davey]

I have made it very clear that it would be open to serious legal challenge and I believe that we must take that into consideration. Let us remember that this agreement is not negotiated by the Government, as some hon. Members seem to think. It is negotiated by two independent bodies. The right hon. Gentleman, as a former Minister, ought to realise that for a Government to intervene in negotiations that involve commercially sensitive terms and to follow that by putting it in the Bill is completely the wrong way of going about things.

[Malcolm Wicks]

As a former Minister in the Minister’s Department, although not one with responsibility for this area, I can recall many occasions on which one was given legal advice and difficulties were presented. Unless a provision is 100% ruled out as clearly illegal, Governments must govern, at the end of the day, and Ministers must act in the interests of the democracy.

[Mr Davey]

This Government are governing. It was the previous Government who moved away from taking action on Royal Mail, who closed post offices and who did not take action. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that we must make judgments, and we are making judgments. I can tell him the judgment that we will not make: the judgment that the previous Government made, which was that the way to sort out the post office network was to close thousands of post offices. We will not do that. The Government can and will help to create the conditions in which both businesses can flourish in partnership with one another.

One thing is certain. A struggling Royal Mail will lead to problems for the Post Office. The Bill introduces the ability to bring in much needed private capital for Royal Mail to invest in its transformation, so that it can offer the best service to its customers. It is important, too, that the Post Office continues to offer the best possible service to Royal Mail as well as to other current and potential clients. I am sure that hon. Members are well aware following the debate that we have committed funding of £1.34 billion, so that Post Office Ltd can invest in its network to ensure that that happens. For example, Post Office—