And in a hat trick of bad news for pro-privatisers, now the Tories admit they could slash the six day a week service without even returning to parliament, as they had claimed! From the Privatisation that is Business Secretary Michael Fallon himself: UK minister: six-day mail delivery could be axed by secondary legislation Monday, September 23rd, 2013 UK business minister Michael Fallon has quietly revealed that the government could water down Royal Mail’s six-day-a-week delivery requirement with a Statutory Instrument. Both the government and Royal Mail have been attempting to keep public and employees on side in the current privatisation process by stressing that the terms of the current universal postal service could not be changed under new ownership without full Parliamentary approval. Royal Mail’s IPO is currently scheduled for the coming weeks, with government insisting that privatisation will not mean reduced service quality for mail delivery. But last week Fallon (pictured right) was forced to admit to Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop that he went too far in suggesting that a full Act of Parliament would be required to change the current requirement for six-day-a-week delivery. Fallon said he had been wrong to state in Parliament on 12th September that the six-day service could not be changed through a Statutory Instrument. “This was incorrect,” he confirmed in the letter shared by shadow postal affairs minister Ian Murray MP. A Statutory Instrument, unlike a full Act of Parliament, is described by Parliament itself as “secondary” or “subordinate” legislation, which often only needs a cursory glance from a Parliamentary committee to approve, rather than full debates by both Houses. read the rest at postandparcel.info/58096/news/regulation/uk-minister-six-day-mail-delivery-could-be-axed-by-secondary-legislation/
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 21:44:43 +0000