Across Scotland, we are well served by our posties who, come rain, hail or shine, are out on our streets delivering our mail.

If only we could rely on Scotland's two Governments for the same quality service. But over the past week, David Cameron and Alex Salmond have been shown to be happy to play politics with one of our country's most important services.

People across Scotland rely on receiving mail regularly and on time and the Royal Mail's six-day a week, one-price-goes-anywhere service does exactly that. But because of the Tory-Lib Dem Government this is now in jeopardy after they confirmed last week they will sell-off our much-cherished Royal Mail on the stock market in a matter of weeks. And then, Mr Salmond and the SNP have refused to join our campaign to stop the privatisation, opting instead to make a predictable political point about the referendum.

I have seen for myself the hard work which postmen and women have put into improving efficiency and supporting much-needed modernisation of the company. It is these efforts which have contributed towards the company's £400 million profit in the past year. But rather than support these improvements, the Tory-LibDem Government wants to sell Royal Mail on the cheap - quite simply, they have nationalised the company's debt whilst privatising its profit.

Meanwhile, throughout the summer as myself and colleagues campaigned against the privatisation, the First Minister sat in St Andrew's House twiddling his thumbs. Both the Scotland Office and the UK Business Department have confirmed they received no communication from the Scottish Government on this momentous issue. It appears the First Minister would rather make representations on behalf of the likes Rupert Murdoch, instead of hardworking postal workers, consumers and businesses in Scotland. That was until last weekend, however, when he pronounced the privatisation should be delayed only until after the Referendum.

Why wait until the referendum? Why does he not oppose privatisation outright right now? The SNP continue to see every issue through the prism of their obsession with the constitution rather than actually seeing this as an issue where people across Scotland should be jointly fighting privatisation to have it stopped, a situation where a moratorium would no longer be required.

Whilst the First Minister would like to portray himself as the defender of the universal postal service in Scotland, he's just as culpable as the Prime Minister for threatening the Royal Mail. On many occasions, I've asked the SNP to answer one simple question - what would our postal service look like in a separate Scotland? The answer - stony silence.

SNP MPs and MSPs are, rightly, quick to defend Royal Mail, however they have failed to answer critical questions on stamp prices, how the postal network will be maintained, how many staff will be employed and how their pensions will be paid.

As the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has shown, stamp prices could rise significantly in a separate Scotland as almost 30% of Scotland's 5 million population live in rural and remote areas, which make up 98% of Scotland's territorial area, giving the universal postal service a particular importance in Scotland. A considerable two-thirds of Scottish Post Offices are rural. Simply, the geographical nature of Scotland makes the Royal Mail and Post Offices more expensive to operate, but the SNP have not told us how they intend to maintain the service.

Currently, Scotland significantly benefits from the sharing of resources and liabilities across the Royal Mail and Post Office networks in the UK.

The Tories and LibDems are privatising the Queen's head, and they should think again before it is too late. Meanwhile, the First Minister is playing politics with the post and he should oppose privatisation outright. It's simply not good enough for the SNP to put our post on pause as they have put the entirety of Scotland on pause for the past few years.