Performance of Royal Mail

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Like other Members, I want to recognise the hard work of postal workers in my constituency. They are not to blame for management’s continued ineptitude and poor delivery of changes. Many are quitting, as fed up with the Royal Mail as we are.

Hundreds of my constituents in Thornbury and Yate have written to me about Royal Mail’s failures. One posted something to Australia and it ended up arriving at a neighbour’s house. Bundles of letters appear at their doors at once—weeks’ worth of magazines, NHS letters and post from friends and family. Mail is an essential service for some, particularly the digitally excluded, who rely on it for important correspondence like letters about their NHS appointments. One Thornbury constituent told me only this weekend that he got a hospital appointment letter the day after the appointment. The Government themselves depend on Royal Mail for sending out passports, driving licences and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs correspondence. Our own offices use Royal Mail.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

The point my hon. Friend makes about passports and other valuable documents is a good one. I attended a meeting in the Polden Hills, where the posties are brilliant but the post is absolutely rubbish, arriving every three weeks or longer. The thing that really shocked me was that Royal Mail is advertising for more posties but applicants do not even need to provide a CV. These people would be expected to deliver documents of prime importance—very often personal things like bank cards. It seems pretty shocking that Royal Mail has decided it does not need to have somebody’s CV before employing them. Does she agree that is really poor practice?

[Claire Young]

I absolutely agree that is poor practice. I think it is a sign of the desperation Royal Mail finds itself in, with so many people quitting its employment.

Royal Mail’s response has not been good enough. It has moved the goalposts, decreased delivery times, and fiddled around with its staff numbers, but none of that has helped. Reports suggest that it is axing its head office numbers, and posties are quitting in droves. Clearly, that is not sustainable. When I raised my constituents’ concerns with Royal Mail directly, the right people did not even attend the first meeting, and subsequent ones have been little more productive. I am told that the Royal Mail complaints forms have been removed from the building it shares with Yate post office. That is not the behaviour of a business that cares about its customers.

That brings me to the regulator. I want to use this debate to call again for Ofcom to properly regulate the Royal Mail or be replaced. In correspondence, Ministers have confirmed to me that currently Ofcom cannot investigate local failures. As a result, when Royal Mail does not deliver and its complaints team cannot provide an adequate resolution, my constituents have no one else to turn to but me. In essence, the public look to Members of this House to be the regulators, but we do not have the powers of a regulator. Too often, our complaints are met with dismissive template letters asserting that the service is improving when it blatantly is not. Where is Ofcom? What does a fine here and there really do to a failing business?

I wrote to the previous Minister a few months ago, after I raised these issues in the Chamber. I asked what he had done to review Ofcom’s powers and why Ofcom cannot properly regulate at a local level. Disappointingly, he answered that Royal Mail is a private business and Ofcom is an independent regulator, so there is nothing really that the Government can do. I am not sure that is quite how regulation works.

This is simply not good enough. In answer to my written questions, the Government stated that they have not assessed moving responsibility for postal regulation away from Ofcom to a new regulator. Why? Surely even Ministers agree that Royal Mail has been failing to deliver for years now and Ofcom has not changed that. Either Ofcom needs more powers to investigate locally and tackle the issue, or we should remove its power altogether and give the responsibility of postal regulator to a whole new independent body that will focus on the issues properly. Why is Ofcom not performing its duties with vigour?

Oral Answers to Questions

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Blair McDougall]

I thank my hon. Friend for his consistent support for the refining industry. I have been meeting with the industry this week to discuss issues such as the energy issues that he mentions. We recognise that the sector faces real challenges. The work to consider the impacts and the feasibility of bringing refined products, for example, into the scope of the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism is ongoing, and we will certainly continue to engage with him on energy costs and other issues.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

I have been contacted by Petruth Paddocks, a family-run camping business on the outskirts of Cheddar, which welcomes more than 20,000 visitors a year and supports more than 50 jobs. Its business rates liability this year has increased by almost 2,700%, from £1,070 per annum to £28,820 per annum, with no meaningful warning and no chance to plan for this catastrophic hike. Will a Minister or the Secretary of State meet me to discuss what can be done in rural Somerset, where so many businesses depend on hospitality and tourism? They really cannot take this kind of kicking.

[Jonathan Reynolds]

Those are obviously dramatic figures —I assume that they have happened through revaluation. I will endeavour to get the hon. Lady in contact perhaps with the Treasury, rather than this Department, to support her constituency.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kate Dearden]

This Government are absolutely clear that economic growth is a top priority. We are also absolutely clear that we cannot build the foundation for a strong economy with people in insecure work. That is why this legislation is so important, and we were proud to bring it forward. We are also proud to work with businesses across the country on it, and with our trade union and other partners across the country, working together so that we can build an economy that works for working people, reverse the damage that the hon. Lady’s party did in government and make sure that the economy works in the interests of everybody.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to support small and microbusinesses in rural areas.

[The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Peter Kyle)]

Ensuring that business support takes account of rural needs is incredibly important for this Government. Around one in six people live in rural areas in England, with over 520,000 businesses contributing £259 billion to the English economy.

[Tessa Munt]

My constituent Jason runs The Cider Barn in the village of Draycott just outside Cheddar, a fantastic local venue that hosts live music and serves, unsurprisingly, really good local cider and ales. Jason was rocked by this year’s massive increase in business rates, which have jumped from £100 a month to £600 a month. I should not have to explain that that meant a significant rise in his operating costs. This kind of shock makes it so hard for micro and small businesses to survive, let alone to thrive. Given how important The Cider Barn is to the local community, what can the Minister say—and, importantly, do—to assure small businesses like Jason’s that they will be supported by this Government?

[Peter Kyle]

The fact that the hon. Lady’s constituent works in the hospitality sector and is located in a rural area means that he requires multiple types of support from this Government, which he is getting. We have permanently lowered the business rates multiplier for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. That is worth nearly £1 billion and benefits over 750,000 businesses. I imagine that his business will fall within the definition of a small business. Just this week, we have introduced legislation to tackle late payments for small businesses, which will inject another £11 billion into the economy. This Government are on the side of businesses, whether they are in urban or rural areas and whether they are large or small.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Blair McDougall]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have taken action through the British industrial competitiveness scheme, which is a downpayment on exactly the sort of support he describes. We are constantly working on ways to cut costs for small businesses, and I am sure we will work with the Select Committee on that.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

Last time we were here for Business and Trade questions, I asked about exports of paraquat—the use of which is forbidden here—to other countries, and I live in hope that I will get an answer to that question. To update the ministerial team, Syngenta—the company that makes paraquat—put out a press release on 3 March to say that it would stop production this year. May I therefore expand my previous question to ensure that the response includes the export of pesticides and other products whose use is banned in the UK?

[Chris Bryant]

Yes.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bryant]

We will do two things. First, we will seek to comply with the Humble Address as soon as we possibly can, given the caveat that I have already issued about the police investigation. Secondly, we will ensure that every single part of Government co-operates entirely with Thames Valley police and with any other police forces, in respect of whatever they may be investigating. It is not for me, as a Minister, to instruct the police on what they should or should not investigate, or to point them in one direction or another. Former Prime Ministers have a different set of responsibilities. So the hon. Lady is right: I do not want to undermine the investigation, but I also do not want to delay it in any way.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Chris Bryant]

I do not want to give way to every single Liberal Democrat Member, but I will, of course, give way to the hon. Lady.

[Tessa Munt]

I thank the Minister greatly. Does he agree that it is timely, right now, for the Government to press ahead with the Public Office (Accountability) Bill? Amendment 23, which is blocking everything at the moment, seems to present a way through, and to ensure not only that we have transparency and openness but that the Government, and other Members of the House, can be assured that anything that is subject to matters of intelligence or security—and, indeed, matters relating to the police investigation—will not be released. There is an answer in the Government’s hands, and I know not why they are waiting and waiting and waiting to get this sorted out.

[Chris Bryant]

The hon. Lady might have to repeat what she thinks the answer that thus far evades me might be.

[Tessa Munt]

I could talk to him about the whistleblowing Bill and the independent office of the whistleblower. People should be able to reveal what they know and should tell the truth. It is shocking that we have to have legislation to tell people to tell the truth, but all this falls under the same remit: people should be free to declare exactly what they know, papers should be released, and there should be an independent High Court judge—that is what happens at the moment and that is what is in amendment 23—who says what may and may not be released.

[Mr Speaker]

May I suggest that we shorten interventions, rather than make speeches?

Oral Answers to Questions

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Thursday 29th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bryant]

I am afraid that I have changed job since I was pushing that levy very hard. The intention was for those payments to be happening fairly soon. I will ensure that the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts responds directly to my hon. Friend. The levy is a really important opportunity. Every time someone goes to a big arena gig, there should be a £1 levy on their ticket. I urge all promoters, artists and concert arrangers to ensure that that money gets to small music venues.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

The use of the toxic chemical paraquat was banned in the UK by the previous Labour Government in 2007. It is associated with the development of Parkinson’s and is deemed too dangerous for use on our own soil, but continues to be produced here and sent elsewhere, perpetuating harms that would not be tolerated at home. What is the policy on exporting UK-manufactured products such as paraquat to other countries?

Stellantis Luton

Tessa Munt Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I reiterate the points I made in my statement: this is about the whole sector, and while we walked in to find a certain position with this plant when we formed the Government on 5 July, we recognise that there are also sector-wide issues. That is why we have been having these conversations, and why we are willing to show pragmatism and change some of the policies we have inherited to ensure that they are working for British industry.

The hon. Gentleman asked about specific conversations. As I said in my statement, just last week we had a meeting with all the major UK-based original equipment manufacturers and wider representatives of the sector to talk about the flexibilities that might be required to make this policy work in a way that does not undermine British industry, but gets us to a common destination for industry, Government and consumers together. That is exactly what we are doing, and whatever Conservative Members feel about the previous Government’s policy, I ask them to get behind that ambition.

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

Success in the transition to electrical vehicles is vital for the west country and Somerset in particular, with the new Agratas battery plant that is coming to Somerset and the port of Bristol, through which go 500,000 vehicles a year. Will the Secretary of State please act to support consumers and consumer confidence by restoring the plug-in grant?