So, this EU referendum junk mail is getting worse. It has just been announced that government has splashed out on a website explaining why it feels the UK shouldn't cancel its membership of the EU and they've produced a 14-page leaflet that will be delivered to households throughout the UK.
As you'd expect, Brexit campaigners are unhappy. They're saying that the information in the leaflet is misleading propaganda
. They're right, of course, but the argument doesn't sound very convincing. I mean, have you seen the leaflets produced by the Brexit campaigns? Not exactly examples of how you provide voters with factual information.
I do agree that the leaflet is a waste of money (£9.3m, according to the Beeb). And I also like Liam Fox's suggestion; the former Tory secretary of war has urged people to send the leaflet back to No 10:
I don’t want my taxes to be used for pro-EU propaganda so when I get my leaflet I’m going to stick it in an envelope addressed to Number 10 and I would suggest others do the same.
If you agree, the address is:
10 Downing Street
LONDON
SW1A 2AA
What about the Royal Mail opt-out? (Updated 27/04/2016)
When I asked Royal Mail whether or not the leaflet would be delivered to households registered with the company's Door-to-Door Opt-Out they initially said that it would not. It turns out the information I received was wrong: the leaflet is being delivered every households, including those that are opted out. It's worth noting that government can ask Royal Mail to delivered unaddressed mail items to households that are opted out in exceptional circumstances
.
Comments
Door-to-Door for EU stuff?
Permalink Submitted by Nick on 25th April 2016.
> Royal Mail has confirmed that the leaflet will not be delivered to households
> registered with Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out.
Please can you post a source for that, I got the junk but RM are hiding behind their exceptional circumstances, government info, line as for why they have not got it wrong.
In fact, they have claimed the EU stuff was delivered using a bespoke service. Which would mean that if they did then they have used the opt-out data for another thing (DPA fail), or they are lying to me or the government department who bought their services (PR and business as usual, respectively).
Re: Door-to-Door for EU stuff?
Permalink Submitted by Junk Buster on 26th April 2016.
That's interesting. I sent an e-mail to the team that administrates the opt-out scheme on 7th April and got the following response from an 'Advanced Customer Advisor' named Enya:
The response doesn't sound too confident ( implies she isn't quite sure) so it may well be the case that government has insisted that the leaflet is delivered to every household, including those that are opted out. My guess, though, is that nobody really knows and that different people with Royal Mail are making up different stories.
If you want to follow this up with Royal Mail, the reference of my query is 1-3540519579.
Re: Door-to-Door for EU stuff?
Permalink Submitted by Junk Buster on 27th April 2016.
I've double-checked with Royal Mail if the information I received was correct. It wasn't: the leaflet is delivered to every households, including those that are opted out.
Return of EU booklets
Permalink Submitted by Lesley Woollard on 5th May 2016.
Does anyone know how many EU booklets were returned to 10 Downing Street. It's gone very quiet so I doubt the figure will be released.
Re: Return of EU booklets
Permalink Submitted by Junk Buster on 6th May 2016.
I very much doubt they would tell us, and if they would they'd probably insist that only a couple of leaflets were returned.
It might be worth asking via Freedom of Information request though, just to see what they'll say. Or perhaps someone within Royal Mail could give us some idea ;).
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