LIbDem Sell-off of Royal Mail will damage Highland Communities

Come the 2015 elections, the Highlands will remember it was a LibDem minister who sold off the Royal Mail. 

The Highlands already suffer from poor quality broadband compared to many other parts of the country.  Despite the Coalition’s promises, the programme to deliver high speed broadband to rural communities – a programme reliant on a privatised BT – is well behind schedule.

Now the LibDems will put at threat a basic service that’s served us well for generations.

We are assured that a privatised Royal Mail will be obliged to honour the universal delivery obligation to deliver mail to any household in the UK.  There are no such guarantees about the timeliness and cost of such deliveries.  We have already seen how the privatised energy and train companies can raise tariffs and fares pretty much as they like, maximising profits instead of service standards.  

How long will it be before a privatised Royal Mail cuts the frequency or range of delivery in rural areas?  Pick up your mail from the “local” service point anyone?  And only on Tuesdays and Fridays, of course……..

Despite all the fine words about “freeing up management to seek sources of private capital to invest” this is a policy driven by right wing, free market, political ideology.  To make the sale attractive to its friends in the City, the Coalition has taken on the Royal Mail’s £200m pension debt, clearing the decks for big business to squeeze more cash out of an already profitable operation.  

Nationalise the debt, privatise the profit.

The Highland LibDem MPs had no mandate to support a wholesale privatisation of Royal Mail in their 2010 manifesto.  But it’s a LibDem minister, Vince Cable, who is driving through this legislation, with the enthusiastic support of Inverness MP Danny Alexander at the Treasury.

We can of course look forward to seeing CWU and other trade union members who stand up against this sell-off to protect their jobs and our mail services being lambasted by the media as “left wing luddites”.   They deserve pubic support and I, for one, will be proud to stand alongside them.

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Why Language Matters

Language matters.  I don't agree with the way Harriet Harman talked about Danny Alexander at my party's conference this weekend.  Just as  I think Boris Johnston was wrong to bring Kosovo into the debate about the effect of the Coalition's housing policies on London.

Some language is just wrong in principle.  But often its wrong-headed because it distracts from the real issues.

In London, we should be talking about the the impact of an ideologically driven policy on thousands of families trying to  make a life for themselves in a vibrant, multi-cultural city.  The combined effect of Housing Benefit caps and cuts, combined with the development of a "social "housing sector based on near market level rents will drive the unemployed and those on low wages out of high-rent areas like central London.  We will see the same effects in any area where demand for rented housing keeps local rents high, as Housing Benefit is tied to local averages, not a single national figure.

And in the Highlands, the debate should be about the politics of the man who has designed a programme of savage cuts of a depth and speed he spoke out against during the election.  Who spoke out against the idea of raising VAT because of its impact on the poorest in our society - but who now presides over a rise to 20% from January.  Who made a lot of noise about local post offices closing, but who now sits side by side with his new political friends who have just voted to privatise the Royal Mail.

Language matters, but its what you do that counts.   

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Nairn, Brown and the Royal Mail

We took our campaign to Nairn on Saturday. An hour handing out leaflets outside the Town House and then delivering the rest door to door in Fishertown. Of all our "meet the voter" activities, so far, this was by far the most difficult. Maybe it was just the aftermath of an election day, but there did seem to be a lot more people who wanted to put us in the "all you politicians are ****" category. The expenses scandal was the issue rather than Labour itself. And we did meet a some locals - including one former party member - who stopped for a good long talk. Despite the abuse, this did feel like a real community with a potentially strong Labour support. If we can motivate them to come out and vote.

I wanted the photo of me next to the post box, to use in my coming campaign to keep the Royal Mail public. However, I was enthused today to read that the government may indeed finally be listening and will decide to delay the Bill (even if its on the ground of stock market values, a delay is a delay). I said as much to some Coop Party members last night; Gordon Brown deserves our support to lead us through till the spring, when I believe the economy will be much better. Our voters may be prepared to come out and support us then, but he needs to help motivate party workers by kicking policies like this into the long grass. ID Cards next?

Cameron, the Tories and the Telegraph know the economy is going to be better by spring next year as well and I am sure this is why the Telegraph's expenses campaign was timed to de-stabilise us now, to try and panic us into an election now rather than in 6-12 months time. I have no time for those Labour cabinet members who put their own interests before the party and our people. Strong hearts and minds have seen us through this. Things CAN only get better.

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