A salute to our readers

WITH nearly a third of a million signatures, our readers’ response to the Mail’s passport petition – which we handed to Number Ten yesterday – has been truly magnificent.

It reveals the deep resentment they, like most of the country, feel over the baffling decision to award the printing contract for the blue post-Brexit passports to FrancoDutch firm Gemalto, rather than the British company De La Rue.

And fears are mounting over Gemalto’s trustworthiness. Following security flaws in identity cards made for Estonia, it emerged the Peruvian government has also complained of defects in e-passports the company helped to make.

This decision was a thoroughly bad one from the start and every day it looks even worse. It’s not too late to reverse it.