Performance of Royal Mail

Samantha Dixon Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Morrison (Cheadle) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for securing this important debate.

Six months ago, in a Westminster Hall debate, I talked about how bad the Royal Mail service in my constituency had become. I talked about how residents had missed medical appointments, bills and other important documents because of the service’s inability to get its primary job done. I also mentioned how contacting Royal Mail with these issues rarely led to a satisfactory response, or even a response at all. Members from across the House will be less than surprised to learn that following that debate, I immediately had an email from Royal Mail saying its representatives wanted to meet and were only too keen to engage with the issues that my constituents were facing. I met them and they told me all about Royal Mail’s plans to get the situation fixed, but six months on, clearly none of that has turned out to be true.

Since then, over 300 constituents have contacted me to tell me in detail how the problem has affected them personally. Wayne wrote to me about the struggles he has had managing his mother’s probate. He is still missing several documents and is worried about completing before the legal deadline. Susan’s husband has functional neurological disorder and has missed multiple medical appointments because of Royal Mail’s inability to deliver letters on time. Martin tried to remortgage his house, but the documents never arrived from his solicitor. Paul’s son missed a Department for Work and Pensions appointment because the confirmation letter never arrived. He was then sanctioned and will have no income for the month. These are real lives—these people are facing serious situations, all made worse because Royal Mail cannot do the job it is paid to do. How can we resolve this?

[Samantha Dixon (Chester North and Neston) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman talks eloquently about the effect of the poor service on our working and personal lives, but there is also an effect on our democracy. As next May’s local elections draw closer, voters will be watching their letterboxes for the arrival of their postal votes. In May 2025, some 2.4 million people—nearly one in five voters—registered for a postal vote, so I am seriously concerned about the impact of the service on the delivery of our democracy.

[Mr Morrison]

The hon. Member makes a really important point. We have seen through door knocking in my constituency that people are now less willing to take a postal vote, which could have real implications for our democratic process going forward.

How does this situation get resolved? I want to make it clear that this issue does not land at the feet of our postal workers.