Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson today confirmed that the bill for the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail has been shelved.

Mandelson, the business secretary, told peers that current "market conditions" would not allow a partial sale of the Royal Mail that would ensure value for money for the taxpayer.

He told the Lords: "Market conditions have made it impossible to conclude the process to identify a partner for the Royal Mail on terms we can be confident would secure value for the taxpayer.

"There is no prospect in current circumstances of achieving the objectives of the postal services bill. When market conditions change we will return to the issue."

In an interview with Sky News, Brown said that the government had "looked around the marketplace" and concluded that there were no buyers or investors willing to take a stake in the Royal Mail.

If there are no buyers or investors for Royal Mail during a recession, then Britain should be highly skeptical of any buyers or investors that come along when times are good. Is there any doubt that these buyers or investors would squeeze out profits from the postal service during good times, leaving behind a shell of a postal service to be bailed out by the government when times are bad? I think not.