Performance of Royal Mail

Carla Lockhart Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bloore]

I completely agree. Another resident of mine, whose husband has cancer, has had to wait anxiously for medical correspondence about a diagnosis.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Chris Bloore]

Could I make a little progress? I am conscious that many hon. Members wish to speak, but I need to get through some of my speech.

A council letter about a husband in a nursing home took from 14 November until 3 March to arrive. His family had six months to appeal and almost four months had already passed. A Department for Work and Pensions letter dated 5 January required a response by the 14th, but it arrived on the 20th. My constituent’s benefits were withheld. She had done nothing wrong; her letter was late. Benefits withheld, appointments missed and appeal deadlines lost—all because the post failed. If my office cannot trust Royal Mail to deliver a letter, how can I assure constituents that their hospital correspondence will arrive in time?

One more thing struck me with this casework. Almost every constituent says that their parcels arrive on time; it is the letters that do not. Is that a coincidence, or is that what happens when a company chases the parcels market and treats letters as an afterthought while holding a monopoly on them?

[Chris Bloore]

I will give way to the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) as she asked first.

[Carla Lockhart]

I thank the hon. Member; he is making a powerful speech to which we can all relate. On hospital appointments, there was discussion that Royal Mail would engage with each of the different hospital trusts. Does he agree that that needs to progress and that there needs to be some screening process to ensure that hospital appointment letters are delivered on time?

[Chris Bloore]

The hon. Lady is completely correct, and I will touch on that issue.