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Lord Mandelson today delayed controversial plans to sell a stake in Royal Mail after weeks of opposition from MPs and trade unions.
The Bill was due to go before Parliament before MPs head off on their long summer break but the Business Secretary said it will now not happen until "later".
Labour MPs have strongly opposed the sale amid fears it will pave the way for the full-blown privatisation of the UK's postal network.
Tory leader David Cameron said Gordon Brown had "bottled it" over one of his flagship reforms. The Government proposed selling up to 30% of Royal Mail in an effort to make the service more efficient and tackle a ballooning pension deficit.
But only one bidder has emerged, private-equity group CVC Partners, which offered under £2 billion. Mandelson said he still wanted the plan to go ahead before the next election but it was being "jostled" for space in the legislative programme.
He said the depressed economy was another reason for the delay, adding: "I want to retain the slot, but... I have to concede that the original linking of the legislative passage and the bidding process for the strategic partner has been decoupled."
