Chuka Umunna MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, is demanding answers from ministers over concerns that, in their rush to privatise the Royal Mail in the next week, they are flogging off the 378 year-old national institution on the cheap.

The prospectus for Royal Mail’s privatisation published last week outlines that it currently operates from 2,000 sites across Britain including delivery offices and mail centres.

There are fears that once the privatisation is complete these assets – many in prime locations – will be flogged off giving a large windfall to investors, while the taxpayer is short changed by the low sale price for the company and customers could be left having to trek miles to inconveniently-sited delivery offices.

The prospectus highlights three sites within London at Mount Pleasant, Nine Elms and Paddington as being “surplus”. Some reports attach a value of more than £500 million to the Nine Elms site, and a value of £1 billion to the Mount Pleasant site. But the document fails to specify which of Royal Mail’s other sites across Britain could be sold off and how much money this would raise.

A disposal plan could see delivery offices - pick up points for parcels and mail - closed and moved to out-of-town locations, where land values are cheaper but which are inconvenient for customers.

Commenting, Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna MP said:

“David Cameron’s fire sale of Royal Mail is bad for consumers and bad for businesses and there are real fears that taxpayers are going to be considerably short changed.

“Royal Mail has a huge property portfolio in prime development sites in London and across Britain and there is nothing to stop the privatised company making a quick buck by flogging off these assets for development. Ministers need to come clean on which sites are due to be sold and what valuation has taken place.

“At a time when hardworking people are suffering from a cost of living crisis, David Cameron reveals how out of touch he is, prioritising the fire sale of this cherished national institution to fill the hole left by his failed economic plan.”