‘Time to come clean over the Post Office’

12:10am Friday 16th May 2008

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The Government should come clean about the future of Royal Mail, says a top Bradford business representative.

Sandy Needham, chief executive of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, says ministers need to be clear about what is planned for postal services in the UK, 80 per cent of which are used by businesses.

She said: "There's uncertainty about the way the Government views the Royal Mail.

"On the one hand they appear to want a heavily-subsidised universal service delivering mail to all parts of the country for the same price. On the other, uneconomic post offices are being closed.

"They have taken away services such as the issuing of TV licences which meant that more people used local post offices.

"It is time the Government made it clear what it wants. Does it see it as a fully-privatised operation competing on equal terms with other private providers, or a heavily-subsidised business?"

Mrs Needham said there was not a level playing field between Royal Mail, which did not have to pay or charge VAT, and private post providers which were subject to the tax.

She also criticised MPs who, having voted for the current programme of closures in a bid to make the business more viable, then supported local protests against closing individual post offices.

Her comments followed calls by the postal regulator for Royal Mail to be partly privatised to safeguard the quality of the UK's mail delivery service.

Postcomm has warned that Royal Mail's financial difficulties would worsen unless bold action was taken. It lost £279m in the year to the end of March.

Postcomm chairman Nigel Stapleton said that without private sector involvement, Royal Mail may need Government subsidy. He recently visited Bradford as part of Postcomm's review of postal services and Mrs Needham was among those consulted.

Postcomm is making a proposal to an independent review on the future of postal services that has been set up by the Government. It said private sector partnerships had worked in other European countries. Mr Stapleton said: "Postcomm wants to see the Govern-ment and Royal Mail embrace a partnership approach with the private sector to secure a universal service."

Mrs Needham has also welcomed proposals to give workers with children up to the age of 16 the right to ask for more flexible working hours.

She said that although the smallest firms would find it more difficult to offer flexible working, it was reasonable that flexible working should become more widespread where possible.