Chuka can be the man to save the Royal Mail – if he dares to

The fate of the Royal Mail is at stake. We may not receive as many letters as we one did, nor are we as reliant on the postal service to communicate with our loved ones, customers or colleagues as we once were – but this crucial British institution still serves its purpose at the heart of our national life. To know that one solitary stamp purchased, as a flat fee, can wing a letter from Plymouth to Aberdeen in a matter of hours at (relatively) little cost is reassuring. Parcels can be delivered to rural communities for the same price as inner city ones, and in some of the more remote and far flung corners of our nation, the Royal Mail even doubles up as a sort of taxi service come local bus.

A privatised version of the Royal Mail would be nothing of the sort. It would not provide a universal, flat rate service across the country – at least not for long. It would be only a matter of time before the need to send profits to shareholders would drive up the cost of the postal service to the point where sending a humble letter would no longer seem like an affordable daily expense. Those profits would quite possibly end up overseas, like our railways and utilities – subsidising the provision of the same services in France or Germany – and sucking more money out of the British economy. Disappearing too would be the universal coverage currently provided, meaning that rural communities miss out. Higher postage costs could also hinder our online businesses, like Waterstones or Amazon.

Live far from a city? Want to get your Christmas presents posted to you?

Tough.

But there is a way to stop this reckless drive towards the death of our Royal Mail. Labour could come out against the plans – and commit to renationalising, or mutualising, the postal service once in power – which would kill dead any prospect of a private sector “predator” swooping down to buy the Royal Mail and strip its assets. Who would invest heavily in buying shares in Royal Mail that they thought they might lose within five years?

There is a precedent for Opposition parties shutting down misguided government plans by firmly opposing them. When Labour was in government and some wanted to introduce ID cards (a dreadful, expensive, authoritarian idea), the Tories opposed. Faced with the prospect of rolling out an expensive program – requiring significant private sector investment – which could have been cancelled in years to come, the government folded.

The government could fold again – but that will require decisive action from the Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna. He was given such an opportunity by Andrew Marr on television at the weekend, but he said Labour won’t commit to renationalising the Royal Mail because it would be “completely irresponsible” and “like writing a blank cheque”. He went on to say that Labour would be a “fiscally responsible government and that is why I am not prepared to do that.” No doubt Ed Balls will have been delighted with his spending restraint, but as Stefan Stern argued on this site on Monday, it’s not a blank cheque but a small cheque that is needed to save the Royal Mail – and it is surely within Umunna’s reach to achieve that.

Chuka Umunna is a politician who has often found it hard to outflank Vince Cable from the Left – here is a shining opportunity, presenting itself at the perfect time.

So a choice presents itself. Labour can tacitly go along with another Tory privatisation. The party can ignore that previous Tory privatisation – the railways, the utilities – are precisely what is fuelling the “cost of living crisis” that Ed Miliband says he feels so passionately about. Or Chuka can stand up for a strong, national postal service – as so many people in Britain want him to do – and say Royal Mail must remain a service that everyone can be part of, and gain from – whether you’re a hedge fund manager or rural farmer, inner city teenager or coastal pensioner. What could be more One Nation than that?