Union calls for Royal Mail u-turn

Pressure on the government to reverse its plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail intensified when a new opinion poll showed huge public opposition to the idea.

Pressure on the British government to reverse its plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail intensified when a new opinion poll showed huge public opposition to the idea.

A survey of 1,000 adults for the Communication Workers Union (CWU) revealed that three out of four disagreed with privatisation, rising to nine out of 10 if foreign ownership was involved.

The union urged the government to scrap its plan, but ministers continued to insist the move would maintain a publicly-owned Royal Mail.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson is pressing ahead with a partial sale of the business, with Dutch-owned TNT already expressing an interest in buying a stake.

Only 6% of those surveyed for the CWU were in favour of privatisation and this halved to 3% when a foreign company was mentioned.

Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said: “The UK public is overwhelmingly opposed to government plans to privatise part of Royal Mail. This is a deeply unpopular move which would damage a trusted public service. We urge the government to take responsible action and respond to the justified concerns of UK citizens who do not want to see this valuable public asset carved up and sold off.”