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Royal Mail

If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will not give him a lecture at this stage on how these things work. I hope he will accept that I have visited a number of companies in which shares are traded, but are traded within the trust that owns the shares for the individual employees. I cannot, in all fairness, ask my hon. Friends to support the Government amendment, which, as has already been pointed out, seems to add to the confusion by using phrases such as ““secure in public ownership”” when Royal Mail clearly is not in that position. I have to say that I cannot ask them to support the Conservatives' motion either. I will say to the Minister, however, that if he is prepared to examine the case that I have presented for the Post Office and employee involvement, I am sure I shall be able to engage with him constructively. The British people deserve and expect both the protection of their post offices and a competitive USO-based postal service. The status quo is not tenable. We must look to a future that is well structured and based on commercial competition, but also, critically, on trust between the stakeholders.