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Royal Mail

I have the greatest respect for my hon. Friend, and I can assure him that this company will remain publicly owned in line with the manifesto on which we fought and won the last general election. Bringing in a partner on a minority basis will give three advantages. It will give the advantage of the experience of having gone through change in a major postal company, which Royal Mail has not yet gone through. It will bring the confidence to carry through the decisions necessary for such change, and it will bring access to the capital needed to fund the modernisation. That is why it is an important part of the package that we have proposed today.