Performance of Royal Mail

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House is concerned about the performance of Royal Mail; and urges the Government to work with Royal Mail to improve its performance levels.

I thank the Backbench Business Committee for selecting the debate and the more than 100 hon. Members from across the House who put their names to the application. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson), who applied for the debate alongside me. May I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a member of the executive of the trade union group of Labour MPs?

Today’s debate is not an attack on our posties, the men and women trying to deliver a quality service with their hands tied behind their backs; it is about holding Royal Mail and Ofcom to account until the service that my constituents receive is the one they pay for. I called for the debate because in Redditch and the villages, the post—or the lack of it—is now one of the most common reasons that people write to me as their Member of Parliament. My constituency is a mix of urban, suburban and rural, from Batchley and Church Hill in the town itself to Inkberrow, Feckenham and Wychbold in the villages. The difference between postcodes can be stark.

Let me begin with the ordinary complaints from my casework, with the Radio Times arriving a week late, first-class birthday cards taking five days to cross Redditch, and Christmas cards arriving on 23 January. One Feckenham family always receives birthday cards due on 12 January five days late; it would be funny if it was not so sad. Some receive no post for days and then one bundle tied with the obligatory rubber band. One received nothing between 3 and 20 January. Another in Wychbold gets deliveries once every 12 days.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Member. Just last week we had a debate in Westminster Hall, and today hon. Members have a chance to ask the very same questions. What is happening to independent traders in my constituency, in Newtownards, Comber and the Ards peninsula? Delays are choking cash flow, ruining customer relationships and threatening their very survival. Royal Mail has got to grasp the nettle and get it right—now, not later.

[Chris Bloore]

I completely agree with the hon. Member. I will get to the impact on businesses later in my speech.

A letter from my own office sent on 11 June arrived on 25 August. Bills arrive overdue while people struggle to reach complaint lines or their local sorting office. The consequences can be far more serious: one constituent received a hospital letter on 6 October about an appointment on 17 September.