Royal Mail stamp warning as ministers block bid to drop Saturday service

The price of a first class stamp could rise “considerably” after a call by Royal Mail to end Saturday letter deliveries was blocked by ministers, prompting calls for urgent reform.

Kevin Hollinrake, the business and trade minister, confirmed that government would not accede to the request from Royal Mail, which has warned that its poor financial performance would continue unless it was allowed to drop its six-day-a-week delivery obligation.

“We currently have no plans to change the minimum requirements of the universal postal service as set out in the Postal Services Act 2011 (the Act), including six-day letter deliveries,” Hollinrake said in a letter to the Commons business committee.

Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister, said that postal services were important “socially and economically”

UK PARLIAMENT

“Postal services have long played, and continue to play, a key role in society,” he added,