Labour: Decision was wrong

LABOUR last night threw its weight behind the campaign to stop the post-Brexit blue passport being made abroad.

Sir Keir Starmer, the party’s Brexit spokesman, said it would be wrong to move production overseas. Asked if the passports should continue to be printed by a British firm, Sir Keir told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: ‘Yes they should. The passport is such an important issue – of course it should be a British company.’

He said the issue sums up the Government’s Brexit approach of ‘over-promising and underdelivering’. British firm De La Rue is set to miss out on the contract after Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto underbid by £120million.

But Sir Keir said it was important production remained in the UK regardless of cost. He said: ‘Of course you wouldn’t want to throw away £120million, they should have ensured they got the most competitive bids ... but to put it to a French company is the wrong thing to have done.’