Dan Aldridge

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in relation to the Communication Workers Union. The anger about Royal Mail’s failure to deliver a reliable service for our constituents is palpable across this House and across our communities. My constituents in Weston-super-Mare, Worle and the villages are not just inconvenienced by these failures. Some are suffering genuine harm by not getting vital information when needed. From the outset—this has been mentioned by many colleagues across the House—I want to be very clear that my concerns are not with postal workers and those keeping our postal depots going. Posties are facing incredibly demanding working conditions, as well as hostility directed at them by some members of the public. The abuse and targeting of our posties is utterly unacceptable and must stop. My local posties tell me that physical and verbal abuse continues to increase. No wonder so many of them are leaving the job. As the CWU identified earlier this month, 400 posties are leaving every week. Our posties and Royal Mail workers deserve proper support, staffing levels and working conditions to deliver the service people expect. Royal Mail is far more than a parcel delivery service, and it must not be stripped any further of its community value and its unique place in our national story. Physical post is still a lifeline to many thousands in my constituency who do not or cannot manage essential services online. Many invitations to my own surgeries are being delivered to residents so late that the events have passed, even though we have posted them at least a month in advance such is the reputation of Royal Mail. Much of the casework I receive relates to older and disabled people being left at an intolerable disadvantage by a service they should be able to trust. We must answer the question: why are we allowing a service so fundamental to our communities and our public life to deteriorate while customers are left paying the price? I cannot help feeling that Royal Mail’s owners know the cost of everything, but ignore the value of what they put at such risk.