Prescott backs publicly-owned post office

Published on Sunday 25 January 2009 14:41

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott today said he will "fight" for a publicly-owned Post Office, but stopped short of criticising Lord Mandelson's plans for part-privatisation of the Royal Mail.

Labour opponents of the Business Secretary's plans for a partial sell-off have set great stake on securing Mr Prescott's support – either publicly or behind the scenes – for moves to block the change.

Challenged today over whether he backed Lord Mandelson's scheme, the former deputy leader would say only that full details had not yet been made public and indicated that he wanted to see the precise content of any Bill tabled by the Business Secretary.

Mr Prescott told BBC1's Politics Show: "I always support a public Post Office and the Government supports a public Post Office. It will remain in public ownership and it will be a universal service.

"I discuss with ministers what they are doing about the mixture of public and private ownership. I have never been opposed to private money going into the public sector."

Asked whether he approved of Lord Mandelson's proposal to sell off a minority stake in the Royal Mail, possibly to a foreign operator, Mr Prescott replied: "We haven't got the full proposals yet.

"I want a publicly owned Post Office. The manifesto said that and I will fight to keep that... I will want to see the Bill coming."

Mr Prescott famously used a speech in 1994 to promise to block Conservative plans for Royal Mail privatisation.

And opponents of the part-privatisation scheme were heartened when he sent an email last month to a Labour supporter saying: "Fourteen years on, Royal Mail and the Post Office face further difficulties, some due to the reluctance to meet the challenges of change, but they still benefit from remaining in the people's hands."