Negotiations in the postal workers dispute carried on through the night last night.

Neither the Royal Mail nor Communication Workers Union were giving out positive signs as the talks continued.

Speaking on the BBC's Politics Show yesterday, John Prescott said the strikers had to accept modernisation.

The deputy prime minister said: "There's adjustment and change-making in our industry, and these proposals, already under way, are coming from the regulator. It's that process of change to adjust to."