Chuka Umunna MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, commenting on the BIS-commissioned report on Government asset sales following the privatisation of Royal Mail chaired by Lord Myners, said:

“This Government-commissioned report confirms Minsters could have secured a higher price for the sale of Royal Mail, leading to the taxpayer being disgracefully short changed.

“This comes after the damning indictments of independent reports into the Government’s Royal Mail fire sale by the National Audit Office and the cross-party BIS Select Committee, which suggest the taxpayer was short changed by hundreds of millions of pounds more.

"Lord Myners , by contrast, was given a narrow and specific remit and was not asked, for example, to look at the valuation of Royal Mail’s property assets whose value the NAO concluded was not properly reflected in the sale. In spite of this, Lord Myners and his panel still conclude the taxpayer could have missed out to the tune of many millions of pounds.

“The next Labour government will act to secure the future of vital postal services – there are real fears that David Cameron’s fire sale of Royal Mail has put its universal service at risk.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. Reports on Royal Mail privatisation by the National Audit Office:http://www.nao.org.uk/report/privatisation-of-royal-mail-plc/; and by the BIS Select Committee:http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news/royal-mail-privatisation—on-publ/ - both published earlier this year

2. Banks were asked to make a higher end and lower end valuation of Royal Mail prior to its sale -20 out of 21 of the higher-end estimates were above the eventual sale price of 330p, while 15 out of 21 of the lower end estimates were above this level - http://bit.ly/1sIyg4N

3. The Myners Review did not take into consideration matters such as Royal Mail’s property portfolio: “In conducting the review we closely followed the terms of reference you set out for us. As such, we have not considered matters such as Royal Mail’s capital structure, property valuation/clawback or dividend policy.”https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-shares-future-primary-sales