HL Deb 26 June 1969 vol 303 cc266-7

3.6 p.m.

LORD AIREDALE

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will give an estimate of what it would cost the Post Office annually to restore to private citizens the concession they enjoyed until last year of receiving first-class service for newspapers posted at second-class rates, compared with the £1 million a year which is lost now that this concession is enjoyed exclusively by publishers and newsagents.]

LORD BOWLES

My Lords, rather more than £500,000 a year. A more precise figure cannot be given because much depends on the extent to which private citizens are sending newspapers by the first-class service at present, and this is not known.

LORD AIREDALE

My Lords, I am much obliged for that reply. But for the sake of £500,000 in the annual account of the Post Office, is it really worth while breaching the principle that a State trade monopoly ought to give equal service to all and sundry on equal terms? Is that not a very good Socialist principle?

LORD BOWLES

My Lords, the noble Lord asked that question the last time he raised this matter. He had a long letter from the Postmaster General on October 24, 1968; we had a Parliamentary Question on November 11, and there was a debate on an Unstarred Question on this subject, including a speech by the noble Lord which I read just now. He understands the position quite well and he expressed it clearly in his speech. Today he has asked this Question. The position is this. It is not a matter of how much we save by doing this; it is a question of trying to stop too much evening sorting, and so on. That is why we make the distinction between those who want to post by first-class mail and those who do not.

LORD AIREDALE

My Lords, I am sorry for having pursued this matter, but I have not until to-day had the answer that the cost would be £500,000, have I?

LORD BOWLES

My Lords, no; but the noble Lord could have worked it out for himself if he had looked at the Post Office accounts.