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Postal Services Bill [HL]

My noble friend is of course right. The noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, stood there telling me that we had to do it, and in haste, because we wanted to be ahead of the game, that we had to be trend-setters for European postal services. He said it more than once—and he said that I had nothing to worry about and that they were doing what the European directive said. I wish somebody had asked the French when they were going to start to liberalise their service, because they have not even thought about it yet. If they have thought about it, they have got rid of the idea, because they know it would cost them. I know that I am a sensitive person, but before people tell me how good these postal services are in Europe they should think about how much they charge for their service, how much they have had invested in them and how much their Governments have supported them. They should think about the service levels and compare that with the appalling service that we give our customers today. How many Members in this House this evening got their mail before they left home? How many people got their mail even before lunchtime? They probably were on their way in and do not know what time the postman or postwoman called. We give a pretty poor service, and it is all under the name of modernisation. You come in and pick up a bundle of mail and go round the streets. The idea is that, instead of having a postman with a full-time job doing delivery and other duties, the workforce is made casual and part-time so they are like the Washington postmen, who go round with their funny hats on and deliver all day. They call them letter carriers, not postmen. That is what is behind this. It is about time that people started speaking not, as old John Wayne used to say, with forked tongue, but directly. I will never come to this Chamber and say anything that I do not passionately believe in. If everyone in our Government is in favour of this, and united, as I was told, by the Secretary of State, I think that somebody, somewhere, may have a forked tongue.