FINANCIAL SCANDAL DISCREDITS TNT PRIVATISATION PARTNER.

FINANCIAL SCANDAL DISCREDITS TNT PRIVATISATION PARTNER.

SNP CHALLENGE MURPHY TO STAND AGAINST SENSELESS PRIVATISATION.

SNP Postal Affairs spokesperson Mike Weir MP has challenged Jim Murphy to stand up for Royal Mail after it was revealed in the Sunday Telegraph that TNT, Peter Mandelson’s preferred partner in the part privatisation of Royal Mail, has been forced to pay back tens of millions of pounds in unpaid tax after its staff had acted illegally.

These revelations come on the weekend of the Scottish Labour Conference in Dundee which has seen the CWU demonstrate outside the conference hall and delegates forbidden from wearing t-shirts protesting against the merger inside.

Commenting, Mr Weir said:

“TNT has clearly been Peter Mandelson’s favoured candidate to take a stake in Royal Mail – and his plans have been attacked from the rostrum of the Scottish Labour conference.

“These revelations will be greeted with astonishment and anger by Labour delegates in Dundee. Jim Murphy must deal with them in his address to conference, and Lord Mandelson should immediately abandon efforts to push forward the bill in the House of Lords this week.

“It makes absolutely no sense to part privatise Royal Mail. The service is far too important for communities and businesses throughout Scotland to be put at risk in this manner.

“Lord Mandelson has clearly learned nothing from the casino capitalism that has brought down our banks, and now wishes to inject the same poison into one of our vital public services.

“If Jim Murphy really is Scotland’s man in the Cabinet, he must make a stand against this disastrous move.”