A Series of Shocking Developments

Asa Bennett writes:

Royal Mail's announcement that 1,600 jobs would be cut as part of a cost cutting drive shocked the unions, which branded the move "ruthless".

The news of job cuts comes after critics warned around the time of Royal Mail's flotation on the stock market last October that standards could slip as the owners focus on profits.

Martin Forsythe, from the Save Our Royal Mail campaign, said: "Today's announcement by Royal Mail is clear sign that profit is being put before services, this is an inevitable consequence of privatisation. As cost cutting continues it wont be long before the universal service is in the crosshairs."

Unfortunately the job cuts are only the latest in a series of shocking developments for the newly privatised Royal Mail. 

Increasing the price of stamps

Stamp prices are now set to rise, with the price of a first class stamp increasing by 2p to 62p on March 31. A second class stamp will go up 3p to 53p. 

Selling our postcode data into private hands

MPs slammed the selloff of the Royal Mail's Postcode Address File, which contains data linking the 1.8m postcodes in the UK to each of 28m postal addresses, saying that it was "unnecessary".

Public Administration Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said: "The sale of the PAF with the Royal Mail was a mistake. Public access to public sector data must never be sold or given away again."

Giving Royal Mail's £1.5m-a-year boss a pay rise

Moya Greene, who is on £1.5m-a-year, is set to get a pay rise, with business secretary Vince Cable telling the board that it would be limited to 3%.

Cable will no longer be able to stop even bigger pay rises when the government sells its last stake in Royal Mail. 

Royal Mail could be 215% bigger than its starting price 

HSBC last week set a target of 710p a share for the Royal Mail, which is 215% more than the company's IPO starting price of 330p a price.

Ministers before privatisation said that any suggestion that Royal Mail was sold off on the cheap was "froth".