LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE
MPs urge ministers to heed 175,000 who’ve signed Mail petition demanding blue passports are made in UK
MINISTERS must listen to the 175,000 daily Mail readers who have signed a petition demanding new blue passports are made in Britain, MPs said last night.
they also called for more voices to get behind the campaign amid fears the deal to hand the contract to a foreign firm could be finalised while the Commons is in recess.
Parliament’s easter break begins on Friday and MPs will not return until April 16. the home Office has decided to award the contract to make the UK’s post-Brexit passports to Francodutch company Gemalto.
de La Rue, the British firm which makes the current burgundy version, has until Saturday to lodge an appeal against the move.
the Mail’s petition has received 173,000 online signatures and a further 2,000 by post since it was launched on Saturday. It calls on ministers to think again about the contract.
the move puts the jobs of hundreds of workers at de La Rue’s Gateshead printing plant at risk.
Campaigners want a full parliamentary debate in order to resolve ‘unanswered questions’ about the decision.
Labour MP John Spellar said: ‘the amount of signatures should give the Government pause for thought as to how outraged the public are at the decision to sell off British jobs. All the other big countries, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, the US, produce their own passports. Britain is a big country, we should be doing the same.
‘the most important thing at the moment is to insist they shouldn’t use the easter recess to make an announcement while parliament isn’t sitting.
‘they should listen to the voice of the people and hold any decision until parliament can look at the outcome and also they can actually provide some facts and figures to back it up.’
Other MPs raised concerns about the passport contract going to the cheapest bidder, and said the deal needed to be scrutinised to avoid a potential repeat of the Carillion scandal.
the engineering giant went into liquidation in January amid claims that it under-priced tenders to win contracts. Its collapse cost hundreds of jobs.
MPs also questioned whether the contract should go to Gemalto given that it is 26 per cent owned by the French government, which would profit from the deal.
de La Rue has a ‘gain share’ arrangement, meaning profits gained through efficiencies are shared with the home Office. Ian Mearns, the Labour MP for Gateshead, said: ‘My concern is it won’t just be kicked into the long grass over easter, but that it will be signed, sealed and delivered over the easter recess. I very much welcome the fact the daily Mail petition has got so many signatures and I think it should send a powerful message to ministers to think this through again. It isn’t being protectionist to be concerned about a considerable loss of revenue to the exchequer.
‘Also, what message does this send to the other companies around the world that de La Rue produces passports and other things for? It shows the British Government don’t have confidence in them and we could see further job losses.
‘If the boot was on the other foot the French government wouldn’t hesitate to intervene so a French- owned company were awarded the contract for producing French passports, and they have done so on grounds of national security.’
the home Office claims giving the contract to Gemalto will
‘It isn’t being protectionist’ ‘What message does it send?
save up to £120million over the course of the ten-year contract.
On Monday home Office minister Caroline Nokes faced an urgent question from Labour’s Liz twist – whose Blaydon constituency is home to a de La Rue factory.
Miss Nokes said there was ‘no place for sentimentalism’ when deciding contracts. She said all passports would continue to have personal data added to them in the UK. She insisted ‘robust processes established over a number of years’ meant manufacturing overseas ‘presents no security concerns’.
Mrs twist told fellow MPs: ‘Best value isn’t necessarily the cheapest price.’