BLUE PASSPORTS: NOW THE BACKLASH
Fury in Lords after Rudd is accused of betraying Brexit by handing contract to French — as Mail launches petition to print them in Britain
THE loss of British jobs caused by the decision to make the new blue UK passports abroad is a betrayal of Brexit voters, a Tory former Cabinet minister said yesterday.
Furious peers called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to rethink giving the lucrative contract to Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, who served in John Major’s Cabinet, warned UK jobs would be lost – and ministers were told national pride should force a last-minute change of mind.
Today, the Daily Mail launches a campaign to have the decision overturned.
Hundreds of jobs are at risk at De La Rue’s factory in Gateshead – where the country’s passports are currently made – if the deal is given to Gemalto.
Home Office officials have named the firm, which is listed on the French and Dutch stock exchange, as their preferred bidder for the contract to make the documents from October 2019.
Tory MPs yesterday said they are facing a huge backlash as hundreds of voters in their constituencies contact them to complain.
Some politicians have privately contacted the party’s headquarters to warn the issue is causing problems as they knock on doors to campaign ahead of the local elections in May.
Yesterday, peers joined calls for an urgent rethink, but ministers refused to back down, claiming the contract will save £120million over its duration of a decade. Labour’s Lord Foulkes of Cumnock said: ‘On both sides of this House, there is a desire that this ought to be reviewed, in the name not just of security, but of national pride.’
Conservative Lord Naseby called for a review, saying the Government should realise the possible decision will have a ‘huge adverse effect on the whole of British industry and the British people as they face Brexit’. He suggested the extra cost of the De La Rue bid would amount to 63p per passport made. The Lords heard the UK company’s tender was reportedly £540million compared with the FrancoDutch firm’s £490million offer.
Lord Naseby added: ‘Against those figures and the suggestion that the French bid was possibly made on a loss-leader basis – as one who worked in industry before coming to this place, I point out that loss-leaders are not unknown, particularly when dealing with interesting bids such as this one.’
Gemalto is being bought by a defence company quarter-owned by the French state.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said: ‘Can my noble friend not see the irony that jobs will be lost in the North East, which voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU, because the Government are arguing that a state company in France, which does not have to make a profit, should be given preference over a company that does have to make a profit and is employing people in Britain? … an extraordinary position for a Conservative government to take.’
The Earl of Courtown, for the Government, said: ‘This is a good contract, it will save the taxpayer money and with all these contracts they do have to go out through a commercial process … there will be jobs created in this country over this new contract.’
He said all passports will be ‘personalised’ in the UK.