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Postal Services Bill

My Lords, I had not expected to speak on this amendment at all. Having looked at the language, I thought that ““financially sustainable”” looked pretty adequate. Why shift it to ““profitable”” and set the bar higher? However, listening to the noble Lord, Lord Clarke, I found myself convinced on this so I felt I should get to my feet. It would be a positive for this Bill if we came out knowing that we would not have to revisit the future of Royal Mail, the universal service provider, and that it had been moved on to a basis where it would thrive in future and deliver the services that we all want and that our community and economy need, so that we do not have to keep coming back to patch it. Constant salami slicing is quite often the tradition as we make change. As I look at that, the requirement for profitability has some real appeal because financial sustainability can be achieved in many ways; you could talk about additional subsidy, or whatever else. It seems to me that there is a far more secure future. The noble Lord, Lord Clarke, has convinced me and I hope that he will have some success in convincing the Government.