Taxpayers were short-changed by as much as £1bn by the sale of Royal Mail, according to a new report.
Business secretary Vince Cable rejected the option of floating Royal Mail at a higher price
Taxpayers were short-changed by as much as £1bn by the sale of Royal Mail, according to a new report from the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee (BIS).
Royal Mail shares were priced at 330p by the government but now stand at 473p, after reaching a 618p per share.
Labour’s shadow minister for trade and industry Ian Murray MP said City investors had “made a killing at the public’s expense”.
The committee said that the advice the government received about the sale “wasn’t up to standard”.
“We believe that fear of failure and poor quality advice led to a significant underestimate of the demand for Royal Mail shares,” said committee chair and Labour MP and Adrian Bailey.
Business minister Michael Fallon said in 2012 that the government had “no intention of selling off Royal Mail cheaply”. But the sale price set by the government was later branded “too cautious” by the National Audit Office.
Taxpayers made around £2bn from the sale of Royal Mail. However if the shares had been sold at 473p, the taxpayer, would have brought in around £1bn more.
At the time of the sale business secretary Vince Cable rejected the option of floating Royal Mail at a higher price which would have brought in more money for taxpayers.
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4 Responses to “No money left? Taxpayers short-changed by £1bn on Royal Mail sale”
treborc1
We all know it was a quick sale I see a labour MP stated the one thing the people wanted was a fair sale, is it really my feeling was not to sell, then again who am I.
I suspect new labour would have done the same but left it for the Tories after doing all the ground work.
Arthur ASCII
Gordon Brown was slated by the ConDems for selling some of our gold reserves, even though he got the GOING RATE for the gold he sold, and used it to pay off our long
standing Lend Lease debt to America, which had been a burden around the necks
of the British tax payer since the early days of the WW2.
When Cable is accused of selling the country short he just says “hindsight is a wonderful thing”. Hypocritical clown!
The sad thing is, the majority of the electorate believe the lies…
Chris Kitcher
Condems have no fucking idea about money. They have to much and are too privileged to give a damn. Time to get rid of all of the bastards.
treborc1
What a sham the labour party are the same …