Chuka Umunna MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, commenting on Royal Mail’s results, said:

“Ministers’ case for their Royal Mail fire sale has now been completely demolished. We know Royal Mail was profitable in the public sector, but David Cameron’s government privatised Royal Mail’s profits after making the taxpayer pick up the tab for its historic debts.

“Vince Cable said Royal Mail’s share price should be judged in the months after the sale, yet its value is now over 60 per cent higher than the government received for the public’s stake. Taxpayers have been left short changed by hundreds of millions of pounds at a time when families are being hit by a cost-of-living crisis, while the City investors the Tory led Government prioritised giving Royal Mail shares have been laughing all the way to the bank.”