So the Royal Mail is to lose its virtual monopoly on letter deliveries from the first of Jan 2006, 15 months earlier than previously planned and another much cherished public institution heads inexorably into the bearpit of the free market.

I wonder how many people noticed the carefully worded ‘kicker’ in the the Beeb’s write-up.

“At present, Royal Mail alone is exempt from VAT, which means it has a significant price advantage over rival firms, and Postcomm said “competition issues” would be addressed.”

“competition issues would be addressed” loosely translated means imposing VAT on postage - EU regulations mean that once VAT has been imposed on something it cannot then be made VAT-exempt at a later date, so the only way to address these ‘competition issues’ will be a hike in postage rates and a minimum bunce of 5%, the lowest possible rate of VAT, to the Exchequer.

Marvellous

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