PETER MANDELSON SPLITS LABOUR PARTY OVER POSTAL SERVICES.

PETER MANDELSON SPLITS LABOUR PARTY OVER POSTAL SERVICES.

CLOSURE AND PRIVATISATION IS THREAT TO POSTAL SERVICE.

Post Office closures and the threat of Royal Mail privatisation risk destroying the postal service.

SNP MP Mike Weir and MSP Christine Grahame today warned over the future of the Royal Mail and the Post Office as Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson face growing rebellion over the part privatisation of the Royal Mail and the Scottish Parliament debates the impact of Post Office closures on Scotland's communities.

Commenting on the Labour rebellion against plans by the UK Government today (Wednesday) to partially privatise Royal Mail, SNP Postal Affairs Spokesman Mike Weir MP said:

“Just a few short months after he came back to the Government, Peter Mandelson has divided Labour once again by going where even Mrs Thatcher would not dare and seeking to privatise Royal Mail.

“The SNP have always totally opposed the privatisation of Royal Mail.

“Whatever assurances are now being offered, this will inevitably lead to a run down of the service and substantial job losses.

”It makes no sense at all, at a time when the UK Government have been forced to effectively nationalise the banks, to be proposing the part-privatisation of Royal Mail.

”This is not the way to guarantee a Royal Mail fit for the 21st Century. What is needed – and what the SNP will fight for - is a clear commitment that Royal Mail will receive the investment that it desperately needs and remains a public service.”

Speaking ahead of a debate on Post Office closures in the Scottish Parliament, particularly the impact of closures on smaller communities SNP MSP for South of Scotland Christine Grahame said;

“The response from communities across Scotland to the threat of Post Office closures has been overwhelming.

“The failure of Post Office and the UK Government to listen effectively to the voices of those communities who are now living with the impact of closures has had a devastating effect and one that in this Labour recession it will be difficult for small towns to recover from.

“Now it seems the Labour party is determined to take the same approach to the Royal Mail.

“These are vital services in small communities and their loss and privatisation will put the postal service as a whole at real risk.”