by Lamiat Sabin

THE TORIES’ plan to sell the remaining government stake in Royal Mail “shows their true colours,” Communications Workers’ Union general secretary Dave Ward said yesterday.

He was responding to an announcement by George Osborne that the 30 per cent share — worth some £1.5 billion — will be flogged off within months, just two years after the majority was undersold to privateers for £2bn.

The Chancellor claimed: “It is the right thing to do for the Royal Mail, the businesses and families who depend on it and, crucially, for the taxpayer.”

But he failed to acknowledge that taxpayers would be short-changed again and that the sell-off would be best for his friends and benefactors.

One of the “investors” in the initial flotation was a hedge fund firm called Lansdowne Partners, which saw its £50 million stake increase in value by £36m by April 2014.

On the firm’s management committee is Peter Davies, who was a chum of Mr Osborne at Oxford University and the best man at his wedding.

Former chief executive Paul Ruddock was also given a knighthood in 2012 after handing £500,000 to the Tories.

However, no shares will be reserved for hard-working Royal Mail employees — they received just 10 per cent of them last time.

Mr Ward said: “This shows the Tories’ true colours. They don’t stand up for working people. They are only interested in privatisation dogma and making the rich richer.

“Selling off the final 30 per cent of Royal Mail threatens the existence of the one price goes anywhere, six-day delivery service to 29 million UK addresses.”

He said the CWU would campaign against the sell-off, adding that any attack on workers’ legal rights could lead to strike action.