AS CLIMBDOWNS go, the capitulation of Guernsey Post Ltd was as swift as it was inevitable. As soon as Jersey’s postal authority announced its plans for competition, it was clear that GPL’s position was untenable.

Win or lose its Royal Court battle with the regulator over the reserved area, its monopoly would have disappeared anyway if postal users here could secure cheaper prices through Jersey.

In other words, the challenge to the Office of Utility Regulation was simply an exercise in enriching lawyers.

What the sensible, long overdue and pragmatic compromise announced yesterday does, however, is seriously question the roles of the Guernsey Post board and also Treasury and Resources as shareholder/taxpayer representative.

It also highlights the political mob mentality that existed in attacking the regulator and demanding a review of regulation in the island.

Far from the OUR’s attempts to bring down postal costs being an attack on our plucky posties – as deputies and GPL would have had islanders believe – Guernsey Post’s new agreement with the regulator will actually expose the organisation and its staff to significant cuts and economies.

But done properly, it will ensure that a good business and a cherished island institution has an enduring future plus the bulk of postal traffic by seeing off the competition.

What the regulator has been saying over the months is that GPL had to adapt and that the vitally important bulk mailers were mobile and would not remain here to be abused as a cash cow.

Today’s joint statement from GPL and the OUR shows that the message has finally got through and both parties are finally working together.

What enabled that rapprochement is perhaps less relevant than why kissing and making up was necessary in the first place.

When he released Guernsey Post’s annual report last month, the chairman was railing against the difficult, costly and disproportionate regulation he was faced with. Today he, or his executive team, are welcoming the ‘constructive dialogue’ with the OUR and supporting a move towards full liberalisation of the bulk mail market.

From a strategic point of view, he can’t have it both ways and yesterday’s policies, supported by T&R, have cost the taxpayer heavily in terms of legal costs and unnecessary public campaigns.

Yet there’s not a hint of an apology.