Delegates at the TUC Congress in Bournemouth told the government loud and clear yesterday that the Royal Mail is not for sale.

Communication Workers Union (CWU) deputy general secretary Dave Ward said Royal Mail staff were continuing a fight that had been raging for two decades.

“We’re not coming through all of that pain that we had to go through to save the industry only to hand it over, just as the fortunes of the company have turned around, to private investors,” he told Congress.

And he warned the Labour Party that there was growing discontent with its position.

“Postal workers are asking the question of Ed Miliband: ‘When are you going to get off your backside and stand up for a public service like the Royal Mail?’,” he said.

Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said it was clear that the public strongly opposes privatisation, which Chancellor George Osborne hopes will prop up his shaky finances.

“It is clear — the government is motivated by the chance to make a quick buck, a chance to sell off one of our prized assets at a massive cost to the taxpayer,” he said.

“It is an attempt to raise cash to spare the blushes of the Chancellor and Prime Minister and their failing economic plan.

“Even Thatcher saw it as a step too far — Tories see votes going down the pan in their constituencies as people say: ‘No to the sell-off’.”