'False economy' over passports decision
The decision to make the UK's new blue Brexit passports in France has been branded 'completely wrong' by a senior Tory MP.
Sir Bill Cash says that changing to the new blue passport should be a mark of Britain's independence as it leaves the EU next year.
The arch Brexiteer has accused ministers of false economy after it emerged the £490 million contract for the passports had been taken away from British firm De La Rue and handed to Gemalto, which has bases in France and the Netherlands.
He says the decision puts jobs at risk at the UK's firm's base in Gateshead and has called for the matter to be reviewed.
Stone MP Sir Bill said: "This decision is completely wrong for a good many reasons.
"For practical purposes I firmly believe that the passport should be made in Britain. We want free and fair trade.
"De La Rue are saying they weren't allowed to compete in France for the French passport,as the French insist their passports must be made in France.
"The French as we know, are notoriously supporters of national champions, and there is always a question of national security when making passports."
The Home Office opened up the passport bid to all companies, arguing that the decision to pick a 'preferred bidder' in the tender would save taxpayers around £120m over the five years of the contract.
But Sir Bill said the move was 'false economy'.
"This is causing severe difficulties for De La Rue and they themselves have lost six per cent of the value of their company in the last 48 hours," he said.
"The redundancy payments if they were to cut jobs, or even go under, would be far more expensive than this so called saving of £120m.
"I would call that figure into question anyway, but regardless of what is claimed, it needs an inquiry and I have suggested the public accounts committee should look into the situation As soon as possible."
Theresa May has faced pressure in recent days to intervene over the passport row, which critics have described as a humiliating symbol of the UK's post-Brexit future.
Gemalto has not been officially named as the winning company, and Downing Street said the final decision will not be made for several weeks.
However, Mrs May’s spokesman confirmed that the preferred bidder had been picked, and would be named following a 10-day 'standstill process', in place for legal reasons.
Citizens applying for a new British passport from October 2019 will be issued with the new blue document.
They will replace the burgundy passports, which were first issued in 1998.
