Royal Mail and the EU

This is a little odd.

The Daily Mail revealed the scheme to deliver 60 per cent of post after midday in August last year.

Bizarrely, Royal Mail tried to pin the blame for the later deliveries on an EU directive which limits the speed large lorries, including those carrying post, can travel.

It said the slowing of its lorries had meant moving back delivery times for all.

In reality, they are part of a wider cost- cutting exercise that will slash the workforce by 40,000 and reduce overtime payments.

Now we do know that the Royal Mail is constrained by EU rules....that we're not allowed to subsidise rural post offices as we might like for social reasons because we're not allowed to subsidise companies in a competitive market above a certain level. And, yes, the PO faces such competition because of the EU.

But it's really rather odd to find them telling such a story about the lorries but refusing to tell the story about the PO closures.