Private companies are to be allowed to compete with the Post Office to sort and deliver letters under radical new plans unveiled by the regulator Postcomm.

The move, which will begin with high volume business mail being opened to competition, could speed up job losses at Consignia.

Forum Response: Consignia

Allan Leighton, chairman of Consignia, told ePolitix.com: "Markets should be opened up at a pace and in a way that enables customers to have more choice, whilst at the same time gives us a realistic chance to compete effectively and maintain a universal service at a uniform price.

"We recognise the benefits competition brings to customers in all markets and we are certainly not afraid of it. The balance to be struck is not to undermine those potential benefits by introducing full-blown competition too quickly and with no constraints while effectively tying our hands behind our back.

"The Postcomm proposal to open up 30 per cent of the market in just a few weeks time threatens the universal service. Competitors can now cherry-pick the profitable parts of our business, which substantially pay for the one-price-anywhere-in-the-country promise of universal service.

"For Consignia, the regulator?s approach represents death by a thousand cuts. We want to improve our customer service levels, become a great place to work and to be profitable. To do this we need to be competitive. Regulation should support a competitive environment, not stifle it."

Forum Response: Communication Workers Union

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, told ePolitix.com: "The regulator appears to have no concern for the industry it is supposed to protect and improve. It sees that Royal Mail is in a precarious financial situation, but instead of offering assistance to ensure the continuation of the universal service, it seeks to undermine it. The extent of the competition is way beyond that being considered in Europe.

"According to the government, the regulator's first priority is to protect the universal service. PostComm is blatantly ignoring this instruction. It is ignoring the law of the land in favour of the dogma of unbridled competition. PostComm's powers are enormous, and they are abused. It seems to see its mission as destroying a 350 year old tradition. Charles I introduced the monopoly. PostComm want it destroyed before Charles III is crowned."The areas where PostComm want to introduce competition are exactly where the industry makes enough money to finance deliveries to rural and remote homes. They must be reined in by the Department of Trade and Industry before they wreck another public service. They seem intent on creating another Railtrack. They are on the Madtrack. The CWU pledges today that they will not succeed."

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

Sir Edward Greenwell, president of the Country Land and Business Association, told ePolitix.com: "The first casualty of any postal sell-off will be the least profitable margins - rural delivery services. This would be the 'straw that broke the camel's back' for many rural businesses struggling to keep afloat and it would be a bitter blow to communities on the edge of survival. People and businesses in rural areas must not be deprived of postal deliveries and the CLA is calling on government for reassurance that they will ensure all companies bidding for postal contracts guarantee daily, doorstep deliveries to rural areas and with no cost premium. However postal services are reformed the universal service obligation must be retained. Rural post offices are more than just a business to be judged on profit margins. They are vital social and economic resources for rural communities and provide all manner of key services which contribute to an integrated rural economy."