Royal Mail Privatisation will result in Zoning.

When I was  a  mature student in  Aber in the 1989 there was a running battle between the Royal Mail and residents of Neuadd  Pantycelyn who kept on painting the Post Box outside the hall green as a protest against the Post Offices use of the Welsh Language.

So it is with nostalgia rather than any real bias that I look to Aber again and report that

Plaid Cymru in Ceredigion has launched a campaign and petition against the Westminster Government’s plans to privatise the Royal Mail.

Ceredigion is a apt place to launch such a a campaign as  it has much to fear from privatisation 

Currently, the Royal Mail charges the same for its services in urban and rural areas, and ensures daily deliveries for almost all customers. In the long-term, there are concerns over whether new private owners will guarantee the same service to homes and businesses in rural areas.

It is likely in then future that there will be some kind of Zoning and  that deliveries to rural areas such as Ceredigion will cost a lot more.

Indeed the tem Post Code Lottery may prove to extremely ironic..

Mike Parker, the local author and broadcaster who is Plaid Cymru’s Ceredigion candidate at the next Westminster election, said,

“The Royal Mail’s universal service is vital to areas such as ours. At the moment, it costs the same to send a letter in Ceredigion as it does in London, and we get the same daily deliveries. New private owners will of course want to cherry-pick the most profitable parts of the business, and that will not be rural Wales. Under private ownership, profits for shareholders will always come first. We’ve already seen huge rises in the price of stamps to make the Royal Mail more attractive for buyers; if this carries on we could soon see prices rise to £1 or more.Talking to people on street stalls and on the doorstep right across the county, I’ve been struck by the strength of feeling locally on this issue. This is a bad idea and I call on the Westminster Government to drop the plan.”

Elin Jones, Plaid Cymru AM for Ceredigion, added,

“Privatising the Royal Mail is something that even Thatcher didn’t dare to try. No wonder that 70% of the public are opposed, and that postal workers voted against it by a huge margin. As well as threatening price rises and service cuts for our area, the plans are a new threat to the future of our Post Office network, and could lead to centralisation of delivery services and local job losses.”

No doubt others will expressing such views but it is perhaps a sign of Plaid's organisational skills that they are able to react so swiftly. 

Clearly this will se other parties involved but it will be difficult for Liberal Democrats  to join i as its their St Vince whose pushing it forward.

And Labour mooted a similar privatisation   under the Blair/Brown government .

We will probably not be able to stop this from going through but we can warn those responsible that they wil pay a price at the next election if they bak it and amongst them must be Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion Mark Wiliams.