THE shadow business secretary has called for a government inquiry into the behaviour of Royal Mail bosses embroiled in a bitter dispute with their workforce.

Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds wrote to Business Secretary Grant Shapps to express “extreme concerns” at the company’s conduct, saying the country deserves an explanation as to why Royal Mail management defied “difficult” post-pandemic financial forecasts to hand more than £400 million to shareholders.

“It is unclear why a business that was thriving a matter of months ago is now threatening to cut thousands of jobs, with a devastating impact on those workers and their families,” Mr Reynolds wrote.