Let's make Amazon pay Royal Mail for delivery to the door.

Do we sometimes look at things from the wrong way?

The owner of Royal Mail wants to accept a takeover bid worth about ￡3.5bn from shareholder and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

International Distribution Services (IDS) said it had received a revised proposal of 370p a share from Mr Kretinsky's EP Group.

The deal still faces a number of hurdles, so let’s stop it. Let’s renationalise Royal Mail, immediately. Lets’ demand that any on-line retailer or wholesaler deliver to houses through Royal Mail

The volume of letters being posted has plummeted with half the number being sent compared to 2011 levels. Meanwhile, parcel deliveries have become more popular - and more profitable so let’s protect hardworking and reliable Royal Mail workers who will be joined by all the delivery drivers who have no pension and are on zero hours contract or paid per parcel in a new increased workforce. This will take double-parking, pavement parking and aggression from van drivers trying to empty their vans off our streets. It will also give delivery drivers a better wage, pension rights and regular hours. Don’t they deserve that?

In response to the takeover bid, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), represents postal workers, warned that the ‘future of postal services in the UK is again under threat’. If Royal Mail charges for every delivery of Amazon parcels, their future will be secure.

Let’s give the Communication Workers Union a chance to form their own management team from the Royal Mail’s existing staff, those who know about door-to-door deliveries. Let’s have experts run the service and Amazon can pay for that.

This will redress the balance between on-line retailers and the high street where outlet rent, rates and staff wages add to costs.

The CWU is worried, their general secretary Dave Ward said EP Group "must immediately demonstrate an up-front and open commitment to working with the union to completely change the culture in workplaces across the UK, rule out any break-up of the company or raid of the pension surplus".

"It cannot be right that a key part of national infrastructure is allowed to be owned by individuals or companies who have no vision for the future and no clear plan to put the workforce at the heart of turning Royal Mail around," he added.

The Czech entrepreneur also owns stakes in supermarket giant Sainsbury's and West Ham United Football Club. While his previous bid was rejected, ministers cleared the EP Group to increase its stake above 22% in 2022, after a review on national security grounds. I’m sure he won’t mind. Labour shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds wrote to Mr Kretinsky calling for safeguards to be put in place to protect the Royal Mail brand and ensure it was not operated overseas.

In the letter, Mr Reynolds said: ‘Royal Mail is as British as it gets, and Labour will take the necessary steps to safeguard its undeniable identity and place in public life’.

Any firm takeover bid is likely to face intense questioning by politicians and regulators due to the volume - and vulnerability in some cases - of people who rely on its services.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said it was ‘monitoring these developments very closely’.

He added: ‘Our priority is to ensure that Royal Mail customers get the service they deserve, including six days-a-week deliveries and a guaranteed standardised price for post throughout the UK, as enshrined by the universal service obligations, regardless of the owner. We will engage with the bidder at an appropriate time to explain our expectations for the future of Royal Mail’.

I can see the future of Royal Mail, renationalised and earning income from Amazon paying for the last miles of delivery where they deliver door to door. Sometimes the solution is so elegant, it seems only too simple.

Let’s use the Royal Mail to indirectly tax Amazon as they seem unwilling to pay their fair share of taxes.

The Royal Mail - Renationalised, reenergised and resurgent.

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