---

Royal Mail

My right hon. Friend is correct to say that legislation would be needed to take these changes forward, but he is not correct to say that that opens the door to privatisation of the company, because as I have said our manifesto commitment is clear and the company will remain publicly owned under the proposals I have outlined today. My right hon. Friend talks of pension changes. Hooper is quite clear that those could be justified only in the context of wider reform of the company and wider change in it. That is why this should be viewed as a coherent package, not as a menu of items to be picked one by one. I am afraid that I have to disagree with my right hon. Friend when he says that the main issue is other postal companies, not technology. Hooper concludes precisely the opposite and quantifies the effect of those two things on the company's balance sheet. He concludes that the impact of technological change is five times greater than that of any competition with other postal companies. I am afraid that the main challenge is not other postal companies; it is the change in lifestyle that the technological revolution has brought about.