From The BBC:
Failure to resolve the huge pension deficit at the Royal Mail threatens the future of the UK’s universal postal service, it has been claimed.Richard Hooper, the businessman whose review suggested partial privatisation of the service, made the warning in an interview with BBC radio. “If you have a £9bn or £10bn pension deficit, you are in financial trouble,” he said. His comments came after the government halted its part-privatisation plan. Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, said yesterday that no bidder had come forward who was prepared to offer enough money to buy a minority stake in the Royal Mail. But the plan had also involved the government taking on, in some form, full responsibility for running the Royal Mail’s pension scheme, which covers 450,000 past and present staff. That plan would have relieved the cash-strapped company of having to pay in huge sums in the future to reduce its deficit. Speaking on the Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Hooper emphasised that in h…
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