Feltham and Heston MP and Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers Seema Malhotra has used Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Questions to call for an inquiry into the ‘mismanagement’ of Royal Mail.
She made the move following the news that Royal Mail have approached the Government seeking a move to a minimum five-day delivery service for letters, in place of the current six-day delivery guaranteed by the Universal Service Obligation (USO). The USO sets out that Royal Mail must provide a six-day-a-week, one-price-goes-anywhere postal service to the 32 million UK addresses.
Labour is committed to the USO. The Government must guarantee that it is secure for the future and will continue to be provided by Royal Mail.
In Parliament, Seema said:
“Maintaining the universal service obligation as affordable and accessible for all, ensuring a fair deal for workers and improving the service by Royal Mail are what it will take to ensure the quality of postal services that our constituents need and deserve. Astonishingly, last year the International Distributions Services board led the company to losses of £1 million a day, just six months after reporting huge profits and paying out £567 million in dividends and the share buy-back, putting at risk the stability needed to modernise and keep Britain’s Royal Mail competitive. Is this not so clearly the result of mismanagement at the highest level, and is it not now time for an inquiry into the actions of the board and the CEO and the risks facing the postal service?”
Read the full transcript, including the Minister’s response, here.
