David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash over Royal Mail sell-off and Labour manifesto pledge

 
Defence: Mr Cameron said the Royal Mail privatisation had been a success
PA
Robin de Peyer2 April 2014
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

David Cameron today defended the sell-off of the Royal Mail as a "great success" after the Government faced criticism for under-valuing its shares.

The Prime Minister defended the low share valuation as Labour leader Ed Miliband branded him a "dunce" and accused him of selling a "national asset at a knock down price."

In a heated Commons exchange after spending watchdog the National Audit Committee yesterday accused the Government of under-valuing Royal Mail when it was privatised, Mr Cameron insisted the taxpayer had benefited from the £2 billion sale.

"What I would say is that taxpayers benefited from selling the business for £2 billion," Mr Cameron told MPs.

"They are trading ahead of where they were sold, but the fact is that when the Right Honorable Gentleman was sitting in the cabinet this business lost half a billion pounds.

"It's now in private hands making profits, paying taxes, and it's working hard for our country."

The Prime Minister also claimed Labour's 2010 manifesto included a pledge to privatise Royal Mail - an assertion which Ed Miliband refuted.

In fact, the manifesto said "continuing modernisation and investment will be needed by the Royal Mail in the public sector."

The Prime Minister attacked Mr Miliband and Mr Balls for their role in the sale of British gold reserves during the last Labour government, adding: "I will take a lecture from almost anyone in the country on selling the Royal Mail, but not from the two muppets who advised on the sale of gold.

"Royal Mail made £2bn for taxpayers. This is a great success for our country and something he should be praising."

Read More

But Mr Miliband accused the Prime Minister of offering a handful of investors "mates rates" during the sale last year.

Shares were originally sold at 330p but were today trading at 563p.

"This was a sale nobody wanted and nobody voted for. A national asset sold at a knock down price to benefit the few," he said.

"A third of shares were sold to just 16 City investors and there was a government agreement that those shares would not be sold. But within weeks they were. It was mate's rates for his friends in the City.

"Not so much the Wold of Wall Street, more the dunce of Downing Street," he added.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in