Labour faces backbench revolt over Royal Mail

LONDON (Reuters) - Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said on Wednesday the government would press ahead with plans to bring an outside investor into the state-owned Royal Mail despite opposition from dissident lawmakers.

Some 66 backbench members of parliament have put their name to a motion opposing the partial privatisation of Royal Mail.

That would be enough to deal Labour a serious parliamentary defeat if they were joined by all other opposition MPs.

Mandelson said Royal Mail would remain in the public sector and said there was no question of privatising it.

"What we want to do is to introduce a minority stakeholder -- an experienced postal operator from somewhere else in Europe -- to team up with the Royal Mail," he told BBC television.

He said this would bring investment for modernisation as well as management expertise to ensure the service's future.

"These are recommendations that have been put in an independent report, we intend to go ahead with them all."

The report by former communications watchdog Richard Hooper said in December that the Royal Mail was less automated and less efficient than its west European counterparts.

Former ministers Malcolm Wicks, Frank Dobson and Michael Meacher are among those who have signed the parliamentary motion, which warns that plans to sell a minority stake would "risk fracturing one of Britain's greatest public services."