The Royal Mail is an important institution to Glaswegians and the city's businesses.

So I was very concerned by this week's announcement that the Government intends to privatise the Royal Mail ... plans that could lead to job losses, a reduction in service quality, increased prices and a 'fire sale of the profitable parts'.

Royal Mail is also vitally important to Scottish businesses, with more than half of small businesses relying on the Royal Mail for between 80% and 100% of their post.

Under Royal Mail, Scots are guaranteed that they pay the same price regardless of where in the UK they are sending a letter.

It is a lifeline for rural communities, where 80% of residents have at some point been refused a delivery by private mail companies, but where postal workers collect and deliver mail once every working day.

Across the country more than 160,000 postal workers handle more than 62million items of mail each day, deliver to 29million address six days a week and to the most remote corners of our islands.

Current services to Scotland's rural areas highlight the importance of keeping this service in the public's hands. Due to the number of remote populations with limited transport links, the cost of providing Royal Mail's services in Scotland are significantly more expensive than the UK average.

However, sending a Christmas card to Shetland costs the same as a card to Shettleston, because we spread the cost across the whole of the United Kingdom postal network, making use of the UK's size and strength to our mutual benefit.

Almost 70% of Scotland's post offices are in rural areas, much higher than the UK average and so far the SNP have yet to tell the Scottish people how much extra it will cost, in an independent Scotland, to maintain the same level of universal service that homes and businesses currently enjoy.

That is why it is equally concerning that this week the SNP confirmed their intention to have a separate postal service in an independent Scotland, losing the benefit of the volume of mail posted right across the UK.

They also need to address their plans for Scotland's post offices which play a vital role in local communities and are used disproportionately by more vulnerable members of society, with two-thirds of Scottish pensioners and disabled people visiting a post office at least once a week.

For every pound that is spent in Britain, 14pence makes its way through the post office network, and almost a third of Scots use their local branch to pay their household bills.

I oppose the Government's plans to privatise this vital British institution, but I strongly believe that what is best for Scots, Royal Mail employees and Scottish business, is a publicly owned Royal Mail, within a strong United Kingdom.