I could forgive them a lot, but not this ….

The government are selling Royal Mail to a Czech billionaire, according to the news.  That does it – 50 years of voting labour out of the window as far as I’m concerned.

I thought the Tories had flogged it off years ago.

Could be worse, at least it’s someone in Europe, it could have been Elonia Musk…

Wasn’t the deal agreed during the previous Govt?

Previous government, but could be stopped. Not really been the Royal Mail for a long time.

Democracy – the least worst system weve tried.

Labour, the least worst government we can vote for?

might turn it around.

they should sell the whole shytehole of a country while their at it.

Nothing to do with Labour. Arranged and signed off by last gov’t.

I thought it’d been sold in the 1980s.

Not entirely sure what difference it makes in the grand scheme of things.

Well it was actually privatised in 2013 during the Cameron gov’t, but that’s probably Labours fault as well. Somehow.

I thought it’d been sold in the 1980s

On the contrary, Margaret Thatcher was famously very opposed to the privatisation of Royal Mail.

And ironically the Tories needed the Liberal Democrats to help them privatised it.

The government are selling Royal Mail to a Czech billionaire

Well I hope they put a silhouette of his portrait on their stamps, otherwise I feel that they might be falling foul of the trade description act.

Wish I was getting closer to the best price the shares reached a few years back around £6.50 for my free ones issued ~10 years ago, but hey ho.

So you could say that the Czech is in The Mail.

The race to the bottom has well and truly accelerated now then.

TBH what difference does it make to you (unless you work for them),everything else has literally been sold off  🙂

Previous government, but could be stopped. Not really been the Royal Mail for a long time.

I’ve not really been paying attention to any of this, so this is a question.

How easy would it have been to stop something signed off by the previous Government? If they could stop it, what are the consequences? Is it even worth saving?

So you could say that the Czech is in The Mail.

The race to the bottom has well and truly accelerated now then.

You mean there are worse puns to come?

I spent 9 months working as a postie, I can’t imagine a worst employer no regard for worker safety or the law, knowingly send people out to work with vehicles with bald tyres and dangerous faults. Absolute them and us attitude between workers and managers and will run away and claim victimisation when you try and bring up a legitimate issue. Most people like their posties but loathe them as an organisation. Expect further price increases and more deterioration of service.

Royal Mail was privatised by the Cameron government and so it’s sale it ‘just’ another stock market transaction.

As above the sale to a Czech firm has been on the cards for months, maybe over a year.

Interesting that press reports (presumably) are making people think it’s a Labour government action.

@dovebiker I was a postie for nearly 26 years took the money and ran in 2009 best decision ever !

Interesting that press reports (presumably) are making people think it’s a Labour government action.

See also, the Chagos Islands deal and early prisoner release. The dishonesty of the mainstream media shouldn’t be underestimated.

I was a postie for nearly 26 years took the money and ran in 2009 best decision ever !

I wondered why I never got that 20 quid my aunt sent me back then.

This whole thing barely registers on my giveashitometer. Most of my deliveries to my house are via a courier, I would say I get one Royal Mail letter every 2 weeks, other than junk mail that I have not asked for. The only useful thing Royal Mail do for me is collecting small parcels from the house, but I guess another courier would manage that just as well.

I do understand that the universal price is really important for rural communities and Royal Mail are better placed to preserve that, but I do not feel like it is some sort of cherished service that must be preserved at all costs.

Just read this on the BBC website, and the first half of the story does indeed read as if the government are selling it, rather than IDS. Weird reporting. Carry on reading to the end and you get the actual story.

@failedengineer. I’m genuinely curious that you are so animated about this. Makes me wonder what I am missing. How does it impact you and why do it make you want to change voting intention?

Interesting that press reports (presumably) are making people think it’s a Labour government action.

That does seem to be the populist opinion if Twitter is anything to go by. Which it probably isn’t.

I’m genuinely curious that you are so animated about this. Makes me wonder what I am missing. How does it impact you and why do it make you want to change voting intention?

For all the crimes against the population that have been inflicted upon us by various governments both red and blue in my lifetime alone, this does seem to be a deeply odd hill to choose to die on. Like, the Iraq War under Blair was perfectly acceptable, but selling the Royal Mail (which they aren’t, AIUI it was already sold by our favourite renowned pig-botherer) is a step too far?

I have not read the thread – but thought Royal Mail was owned by a German & Canadian company anyway?

ElShalimoFull Member
Wasn’t the deal agreed during the previous Govt?

Yeah, but we all know that Labour’s *really* behind it all, somehow.

IDS is still a UK company, but their operations in Germany & Canada are now its focus.

@failedengineer – I want to know why you’ve failed as an engineer? I’ve been winging and getting away with it for 36years now.

I’m sure all necessary Czechs and balances are in place

 TBH what difference does it make to you (unless you work for them),everything else has literally been sold off

And anyway I am sure that Daniel Kretinsky wants to own Royal Mail because he was concerned that people in the UK weren’t receiving the best postal delivery service possible. So a cheaper more efficient service I am positive is just around the corner.

How easy would it have been to stop something signed off by the previous Government? If they could stop it, what are the consequences?

Well when Keir Starmer was desperate to become Leader of the Labour Party he included the renationalisation  of the Royal Mail in one of his 10 socialist pledges, so the former DDP obviously thought that it was doable:

5. Common ownership

Public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders. Support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water; end outsourcing in our NHS, local government and justice system.

Opinion polls have consistently shown overwhelming public opposition to firstly the privatisation of Royal Mail and then overwhelming support for renationalisation.

But presumably the wishes of a Czech billionaire are now more important to Keir Starmer than the wishes of British people, as is profits for shareholders……tough decisions and all that.

The government are selling Royal Mail to a Czech billionaire, according to the news.

The news (including BBC) seem to be, for whatever reason, strongly implying that this is the (Labour) government’s doing, by saying the takeover has been “approved”

but could be stopped

I don’t think it could though? AIUI, the “approval” means that it passes whatever checks it needs to in terms of national security, etc, and that being the case there simply isn’t the mechanism to deny what is essentially otherwise a fairly ordinary takeover bid. It’s already been sold off from public ownership, years ago, it’s simply being sold on now.

don’t think it could though? AIUI, the “approval” means that it passes whatever checks it needs to in terms of national security, etc, and that being the case there simply isn’t the mechanism to deny what is essentially otherwise a fairly ordinary takeover bid. It’s already been

There was no need to stop it. If Starmer had stuck to the “pledge” he made when he claimed that public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders, and the government had a policy of renationalising Royal Mail, then I very much doubt that Daniel Kretinsky would have been interested in it and there would be no takeover happening now.

With the correct legislation nationalisation is perfectly legal. If Charles the First managed to do it I am sure that it is not beyond Keir Starmer’s capabilities. He certainly previously thought that he could do it.

I’m similarly outraged that a company that for too long was a monopoly and has continued to give crap service for expensive prices has been sold to someone else. You’d kind of hope this billionaire businessman has some kind of idea of how to run a successful business and as a result we may actually see something resembling a decent vfm postal service…

I could forgive failedengineer alot…. But not this flounce.

It doesn’t affect me personally.  It’s the principle.  A Labour government should be re-nationalising the sold off assets, not carrying on with the sale.  By trying to appeal to people who would probably never vote Labour, they are alienating old lefties like me.  I’m sure that they (or certainly Starmer) don’t care in the slightest because I’m part of a dying (literally) breed.

@rustynissanprairie – I never actually failed as an engineer (I was a design draughtsman/Project Engineer back in the pencil days), I moved into sales and marketing.  I just wish that I’d stuck it out, it was the only thing I’ve ever been good at!

have the government got 3.6bn to buy royal mail and cover the likely blackhole of its pensions

With the correct legislation nationalisation is perfectly legal.

I’d have preferred it not to have been sold off in the first place but, as above, where would the money come from to buy it back? is it even worth spending that kind of public money on a declining industry?

By trying to appeal to people who would probably never vote Labour

I don’t think this particular issue has anything at all to do with Labour trying to appeal to Tory voters.

Don’t be mistaken into thinking that STW reflects public opinion, according to a recent yougov poll 75% of voters support renationalising Royal Mail and only 15% oppose it.

Even if every single one of the 15% was a Tory voter that is still a lot of Tory voters who don’t oppose the renationalisation of Royal Mail.

Renationalisation of the nation’s assets is massively popular with voters, including Tory voters, if Starmer’s government makes the “difficult decision” not to renationalise Royal Mail it has to be for ideological reasons, certainly not because it lacks voter appeal.

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50098-support-for-nationalising-utilities-and-public-transport-has-grown-significantly-in-last-seven-years

have the government got 3.6bn to buy royal mail

So it is debatable whether the UK government can afford to buy something which it turns out that a Czech billionaire can afford?

Where would the money come from to buy it back?