Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, today spoke out against any moves to partially privatise the Royal Mail.

The Business Minister, Pat McFadden, told the Commons on Tuesday that the Government was persuaded by a report commissioned from Richard Hooper, a former vice-chair of Ofcom, that the Royal Mail should enter into a partnership with the private sector.

The Pendle MP responded by pledging to vote against any legislation to privatise the Royal Mail.

Prentice told the Minister: "We want a wholly publicly owned Royal Mail, and I will not support any legislation that privatises it. Is it not the case that over a very long period Government policies have been designed to weaken the Royal Mail in order to encourage competition into the market? Is it not scandalous that new entrants have been allowed to undercut the Royal Mail?"

Yesterday, the MP with four colleagues from the Commons met Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, at his Department's Victoria Street HQ but came away from the meeting unconvinced.

"This year's Labour Party Conference and the National Policy Forum vowed to keep the Royal Mail wholly publicly owned. If words mean anything this clearly precludes the private sector taking a stake."

"It is a bit like inviting SKY to take a 40% stake in the BBC and proclaiming nothing has changed."

The MP added: "The Government has no mandate to do this."

The Communications Workers Union will be responding in January to the Hooper Report and the Government's support for it.