Staff could get own share in Royal Mail

The Royal Mail could be part-privatised into a John Lewis-style partnership, Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson suggested today.

Mr Johnson said the Government would not allow any sale of the business to outside shareholders but made clear he was " interested" in giving employees more ownership.

Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton has floated the idea of handing over the firm to its staff, but postal unions are firmly opposed to the idea and it could trigger uproar among Labour MPs.

Mr Johnson, who fought against privatisation when he led the postal workers' union in the Nineties, said he was not in favour of outright privatisation.

Instead, he said he would be interested in a "greater mutuality in a co-operative way".