Government "failing to ensure Royal Mail delivers election materials," say Greens
26 May 2004
The Green Party today demanded the Government take responsibility for thewidespread problem of non-delivery of election communications by the RoyalMail.
A Green Party spokesperson explained the problem this afternoon:
"The Royal Mail is paid to deliver both postal votes and election leafletsfrom the parties. Obviously they need to deliver the leaflets first, sopeople have a chance to see what the parties are saying before they decidewho to vote for.
"But there are widespread reports from the all-postal regions of postalvotes arriving first. They have 'return immediately - do not delay' on theenvelope. A lot of people will vote without having read what the parties aresaying.
"This is hardly the best way to encourage informed decision-making byvoters."
Waste of taxpayers' money - delivering election leaflets AFTER people have voted
He added: "The taxpayer is spending millions of pounds getting partyleaflets to voters. It could be a colossal waste of money if hundreds ofthousands of people, or possibly millions, don't receive their leaflets fromthe parties until after they've voted. It also casts a shadow on theelection.
"The Royal Mail are bound by contract. If they don't deliver, the Governmentmust take action to make it happen."
Everyone in Northern England and the East Midlands has to vote by post thisyear. Ironically the worst case that has come to light so far is Lancaster,in the all-postal North West, where the Royal Mail had delivered 40% ofpostal votes by this morning but no Green Party leaflets at all. Leafletsfrom the other parties have been arriving for the last two weeks, accordingto Green councillors in the city who have been closely monitoring thesituation. Green activists also reported non-delivery of leaflets in partsof Manchester, Bolton and Stockport.
"Complaints from all over the country"
The Green Party's monitoring team, based in York, have had reports ofnon-delivery or other problems from most regions. Eastern and London werereported to be the worst affected, followed by Yorkshire and West Midlands.
In all-postal York, delivery has been "very patchy and apparently not verywell organised."
The Royal Mail is supposed to ensure delivery to the public within sevenworking days of receiving their leaflets from the parties. The Green Partydelivered its leaflets to the Royal Mail on 11 May. But a spokesperson forLancaster Green Party said this afternoon: "No Green Party leaflets had beendelivered in Lancaster until today, although all the other parties' leafletshave been seen across the city. The Royal Mail have absolutely refused todeliver more than 15% of them before the weekend. The problem is that a lotof people will vote over the weekend or on the bank holiday, having heardfrom the other parties but not from the Greens."
