Royal Mail and the Post Office

Well, it would be inaccurate to describe my party's policy as privatisation. I support the policy of the party, which is to bring more private sector investment into our mail services, and I will come to that later in my speech. In the early stages of its existence, Postcomm argued that the universal service obligation was a help to Royal Mail and gave it a competitive advantage. I am pleased to read in the report that Postcomm has now woken up to reality and in its evidence to the review, it accepts that"““without extensive change, the Royal Mail's business model will become unsustainable””." It goes on to predict that, without policy changes, Royal Mail's cash flow on its letters business could be in deficit by as much as £400 million a year in just four years' time.