Plaid Cymru Llanelli
Ty Bres,
Heol Bres
Llanelli
SA15 1UH
June 2nd, 2009
Nia Griffith MP
6 Queen Victoria Road
Llanelli
SA15 2TL
Dear Ms Griffith,
I have heard that the Government intends to announce the privatisation of part of the Royal Mail in the course of the next few days. Along with postal workers and many people in Llanelli, I am outraged by this foolish and reckless step. No sensible government would sell off this vital public service, particularly so during the deepest recession we have seen in our lifetimes. The disastrous Tory years taught is that brutal job cuts follow privatisation. We cannot afford to loose any more jobs in Llanelli - least of all through the intentional action of the UK Labour Government.
The Hooper Report commissioned by your Labour Government says that the Royal Mail should be partly privatised to release funds to enable it to modernise. The report claims our Royal Mail is not as efficient as other European postal operators. But the evidence it offers to support this is misleading and inconclusive. For example, it confuses pricing and operational efficiency. It fails to take account of the different domestic markets. It ignores the negative effects of our Royal Mail being an established operator. Worst of all, the report does not explore how Royal Mail could modernise by other means and does not even suggest how much money would be needed to support that process. Many people suspect that the whole process has been biased in favour of selling off this national asset to continental competitors such as DHL or INT.
The privatisation of the Royal Mail on the basis of this flawed report would be nothing short of an act of vandalism. The consequences will be felt first by loyal Royal Mail workers but very soon I fear we will all be suffering a decline in service and a jump in prices. This is the lesson of previous Tory privatisations.
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to vote against these measures when they come up for debate. People in Llanelli want the Royal Mail to remain in public hands and it is right that they demand the support of their MP to help protect it.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Myfanwy Davies
Plaid Cymru Westminster Candidate, Llanelli.
