Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business and Trade
Navendu Mishra
Main Page: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)Department Debates - View all Navendu Mishra's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
Navendu Mishra Excerpts(1 day, 8 hours ago)
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Blair McDougall
Unfortunately, the story that the hon. Lady tells is familiar, because I have heard it from so many hon. Members around the Chamber. As I say, we have been bringing together workforce and management for talks on reforms to get the business on to a sustainable footing and improve service quality. We will bring that together. I will raise the issue of prioritisation of parcels with Ofcom this afternoon.
Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I thank all postal workers in Stockport and across the UK. It is important to highlight that it was the coalition Government—the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives—who privatised Royal Mail. I ran an online survey about Royal Mail services in my constituency. Some 89% of respondents said that they were unhappy, angry or disappointed by the service in Stockport. There was one example of mail not being delivered for almost two weeks, until it was all delivered on the same day, meaning that important information and appointments were missed. What will the Minister to do improve services for the approximately 3 million people in Stockport and Greater Manchester?
Blair McDougall
I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to posties in Stockport and Greater Manchester. Like posties all across the country, they go the extra mile in incredibly difficult circumstances. As I mentioned, we are bringing together unions and management for talks, to make sure that we get to a resolution and progress the future of the business. We are also pressing Ofcom on the enforcement action that it can take to progress the improvement plan that Royal Mail has committed to producing.