The privateers in Britain's postal industry are no doubt cock-a-hoop that the Mail Competition Forum has persuaded the European commission to investigate the government-backed finance package for Royal Mail, writes industrial editor Mark Milner.
If the package is blocked on the grounds that it constitutes state aid, rather than commercial support from the company's only shareholder, Royal Mail's modernisation plans will be significantly weakened.
That will make it easier for the privateers to cherry-pick Royal Mail's most lucrative business customers and - shamefully - some of its government contracts. Take that trend to its logical conclusion and all that will be left for Royal Mail to do will be deliver Christmas cards to the more remote parts of the UK - a model which is clearly unsustainable.
If the commission does find against the government and Royal Mail and rules the package is tilting the playing field, the government should consider an alternative remedy.
Either it should remove the universal service obligation, which obliges Royal Mail to offer one delivery a day to every address in the UK - except on Sundays - or force the privateers to offer the same service. Fair's fair, after all. And I, for one, would be posting a letter a day to an address on Barra via TNT, DHL and UK Post.
