Our iconic blue passports must be made in Britain
I CAN’T be the only one of the 17 million people who voted to Leave the EU who is disgusted the contract to print the iconic blue British passport has been awarded to a Dutch/French company.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are running a fair and open competition to ensure the new contract delivers a high- quality and secure product, and offers the best value for money. We do not require the passports to be manufactured in the UK.’
Do we not care about British jobs, British quality, British security? Surely paying an extra £12 million a year to a British firm is better than awarding this £490 million contract to an EU company.
This decision must be reversed in the interest of national security. First our fishing, then our passport. What else will we give away?
D. M. BOON, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland.
WHAT hope is there for our manufacturing sector after Brexit if the Government fails to support home-grown industry?
How can we be sure of the final cost of these passports without knowing what will happen to the exchange rate after Brexit?
With possibly higher import fees, the cost may be higher than quoted, and we must factor in the loss to our economy of this contract.
One of my main reasons for voting Leave was to escape regulations that insist on Europewide tendering. Surely after Brexit we should be free to support our UK companies?
JUDITH HOWARD, London SW11.
I’M SURE that, like me, most people would be prepared to pay a little more to keep the production of UK passports here. We should be encouraging business, not farming it out to the EU.
D. McCOLE, Chepstow, Gwent.