We've delivered democracy

I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all our amazing colleagues across the operation for rising to the challenge and delivering another General Election. 

Royal Mail is a very important part of the democratic, electoral process and you should all be proud of the role you have played. 

The bar was raised this year – and the snap election that took place yesterday was arguably one of the most significant elections of our lifetime. 

The figures are now in and I can report that during the campaign we delivered more postal votes and candidate mail than in any previous election. 

Deliveries of postal vote returns increased by 50% in comparison with the 2019 General Election and there was 30% more candidate mail than in 2019. 

We delivered a staggering 50.8 million poll cards, 7.26 million completed postal votes and 184 million pieces of candidate mail. 

In a campaign lasting six weeks, we processed more than 70,000 completed postal votes on polling day alone, with an army of more than 400 dedicated van drivers working to deliver them to local authority returning officers across the UK. 

The sheer scale of the job that we do to deliver democracy for the UK is incredible. 

And, this time around, we did it all while at the same time undergoing the largest operational change in more than 20 years - by extending our Network Window and launching our new National Workplan. 

All this achieved by you and your teams.

Your work really does make a huge difference. 

Click here for my message of thanks and please share my appreciation with your teams. 

Alistair Cochrane

Chief Operating Officer