FT Alphaville " George Osborne, book cooker Posted by Paul Murphy on Mar 19 10:41. It seems strange that so little outrage has met the plan rustled up by British chancellor George Osborne to take over the Royal Mail's pension so as to "expedite privatisation" of the UK's postal service. What it actually does is provide the government with an immediate £28bn cash injection...along with a future £37bn contingent liability. Tony Jackson doesn't like it. It looks like financial repression to the FT columnist. Neither does Philip Booth, editorial director at the Institute of Economic Affairs... According to the government's own figures, the liabilites are £10bn greater than the assets which stand at £28bn. However, if valued properly, the liabilities would probably be well over £20bn more than the assets. Government accounts will show a reduction in the government's national debt of £28bn whereas, in reality, the national debt will be increasing by over £20bn. Although the government claims that it will not be spending the £28bn raised from taking over the assets because it will be used to reduce its borrowing, future governments are less likely to feel so constrained. The government would not allow a private sector company to get away with such shoddy - indeed, underhand - accounting practices. Shoddy and underhand. And hugely expensive for future generations. This entry was posted by Paul Murphy on Monday, March 19th, 2012 at 10:41 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with george osborne, Royal Mail.