Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has argued for the Royal Mail to be brought back into public ownership and warned that the Post Office is under increasing threat.
He won loud applause from delegates at the annual conference of the Communication Workers Union with a passionate defence of keeping post offices open and defending the universal postal service.
Read more: Corbyn says Tory housing policy means poor people are "socially cleansed" out of cities
"The best thing would be for Royal Mail and the Post Office to be brought back together in public ownership, not the system of ownership we have at present."
Mr Corbyn said the Post Office seemed to be under increasing threat, as more branches were franchised, hitting rural communities and access to services for older people as well as terms and conditions of workers.
Postal workers were the "lifeblood" of communities, regarded as a friend, he said, adding: If we lose it and it breaks up and have fewer High Street post offices, we have lost something that pioneers fought for.
"The bean-counters in our Government don't realise the human aspect of the Post Office."
Mr Corbyn said Labour would defend the universal service obligation, under which letters are delivered anywhere in the country for the same price, and would repeal the controversial Trade Union Bill which imposes a threshold on strike ballots and other reforms to the way unions operate.
He was applauded by delegates when he said that Labour in government had not done enough to repeal anti-union legislation.
He announced that Labour's Workplace 2020 commission will be launched in the summer, aimed at developing employment-related policies ahead of the next general election.
Party members and supporters will be urged to take part in wide-ranging consultations, he said.
He attacked the Government's austerity programme and said the economy needed investment, especially in affordable housing, underpinned by strong trade union rights.
Next week's local elections were an opportunity to send a message to the Government that people will not tolerate cuts to care for the elderly or schools being forced to become academies, he said.
Mr Corbyn described himself as a lifetime trade unionist, saying he wanted union members to feel welcome in the Labour Party.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here