Labour MP quits government post

Mr McGovern said he was not "fully supportive" of the proposals

Labour MP Jim McGovern has resigned from the government in protest at plans to part-privatise Royal Mail.

Mr McGovern, MP for Dundee West, had been parliamentary private secretary to business minister Pat McFadden, whose department is overseeing the changes.

He said it "beggars belief" that Dutch company TNT could be brought in to advise Royal Mail on its operations.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who announced the plans, insists Royal Mail will remain "publicly owned".

Mr McGovern, an MP since 2005, is a former glazier and and activist for the GMB trade union.

In a statement, he said: "I believe a PPS (parliamentary private secretary) has to be fully supportive of proposals of the department which they serve.

"In this case I do not support what looks to me like partial privatisation of the Royal Mail."

A number of backbench Labour MPs have attacked the government's move to inject private capital into the Royal Mail and have pledged to fight the plan.

Mr McGovern said: "In his statement Pat McFadden said he welcomed an expression of interest from the Dutch postal company TNT, for me it simply beggars belief that we would employ the services of a company from abroad to tell the Royal Mail in this country where they are going wrong."