A new campaign backed by funding from the Communication Workers Union – and supported by rural and OAP groups – is calling on the Government and Ofcom to provide stronger guarantees that services will be protected if and when Royal Mail is sold off.
“Save Our Royal Mail” , the brainchild of a group led by former Labour Party spindoctor Mario Dunn, has already claimed that privatisation could trigger an increase in first class stamps to £1 if Royal Mail had to start charging customers VAT, as its private sector rivals are required to do.
Dunn, whose group has the backing of the rural lobby group Countryside Alliance and the National Pensioners Convention, said Save Our Royal Mail was “not an anti-privatisation campaign”.
But he insisted privatisation would “make it more likely that stamp prices will go that way”, noting the deregulation of Royal Mail’s pricing last year, which saw around 80% of the company’s prices freed from regulatory restrictions, with stamp prices subsequently raised by as much as 30%.
He said: “This is about mail services – we have anecdotal evidence that some mail services are being cut back. What guarantees can rural communities have from ministers that there will be protection when Royal Mail is privatised?”
The campaign is aiming to encourage members of the public to write to their MPs highlighting concerns about the privatisation of Royal Mail, which could take place at the end of this year or in 2014.
Royal Mail’s spokesman James Eadie denied Dunn’s claims that mail services were being cut back, saying: “Nine out of ten customers consider Royal Mail a core part of the community – particularly in rural communities, where we are part of the lifeblood of day to day communication. We have an extensive network of over 115,000 postboxes across the UK, the highest level of provision per square kilometre of Western European nations.”
While the CWU has opposed private operators like TNT Post “cherry picking” the most profitable routes from Royal Mail, Dunn said the Save Our Royal Mail campaign was simply looking for protection for rural mail services, not restrictions on competition.
“We’re not arguing for more or less (private sector involvement), it’s that if you’re going down that route of a sell-off, how can ministers guarantee that services will be protected?” he said.
