Performance of Royal Mail

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dave Robertson]

I have experienced that at first hand as well. I went to one of the arranged visits to my local distribution office, with various people from the Royal Mail comms department there. By the time I got back to my office, I had had three emails from posties at that delivery office saying that every single postal worker went out that day with two routes on their back, just to ensure that the mail was out of the way and I did not see it. It is a real problem that Royal Mail does not want to grasp this.

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend’s leadership on this issue has been magnificent. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) for calling this debate, which I am grateful to contribute to, albeit briefly. To hear my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) talk about, “It’ll be okay for Christmas,” and to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch talk about the low morale of workers within Royal Mail, does he agree that part of this debate this evening—we started on a good footing with my hon. Friend—is giving thanks to posties for their incredible hard work? That is not only because they work under incredibly hard circumstances, but because they are the heart of our communities, often noticing any differences. When they see a person who normally gets letters not answering the door, they often are the ones who raise the alarm in the local community.

[Dave Robertson]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the value that posties have in our communities not just in delivering post, but more widely. We saw it over covid where the only person a lot of vulnerable residents would see in a week would be their postie. She makes an important point about their importance to our communities.

Returning to Royal Mail’s inability to grasp the nettle and to the fact that it sends us emails saying, “Everything’s fine,” “Don’t worry,” and “Nothing to see here,” that is tantamount to telling every single MP it has sent that communication to that our constituents are lying. Royal Mail needs to change its approach radically and rapidly.