A very big omelette

In her opening of Parliament speech today The Queen announced that there would be a Consumers Bill which will strengthen consumer advocacy. Tomorrow's papers will report that this involves the merger of Postwatch and Energywatch with the National Consumer Council. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs and you cannot merge public bodies without abolishing the old ones.

Postal customers should take some comfort from the government's wish to 'strengthen' consumer advocacy and not be overly concerned about Postwatch being abolished. Postwatch will do all it can to make sure the new body will be able to do an even better job on behalf of consumers. Postwatch and its successor will certainly have a key role in reviewing proposals to close, merge or move post offices.