Originally Posted by BBC News
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has received the findings of an inquiry into the future of Royal Mail.

The head of the review, Richard Hooper, believes the postal service needs to modernise and become more efficient.

The report may recommend Royal Mail's multi-million pound pension deficit should be met by the government.

But unions are concerned Mr Hooper's proposals, following the year-long review of Royal Mail, will lead to large-scale job losses.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said the findings of the Hooper review have been eagerly, if warily awaited by the postal industry as it is likely to deliver some uncomfortable home truths.

It's about time they sorted it out, and secured the future of our ever-important postal service. If saving the service, means mass job losses, then that is the option they should take.

Nobody want's to see people losing their job's, especially the government, but at the end of the day, companies can't keep employing people for the sake of keeping them in work, if it is inefficient and uneconomical to do so.

I can see it becoming at least part-private within the next few year's, and quite possibly even totally private within the next decade. There is already masses of competition from other companies, in just about every sector that the Royal Mail has an interest in, and this is only going to increase as time passes.

BBC News Report