Our passport petition has been signed by 150,000
THE Daily Mail’s petition demanding Britain’s post-Brexit blue passports be made in the UK raced past the 150,000 mark last night.
It came during a day of mounting pressure on ministers over the decision to hand the contract to a foreign company.
The tally means the equivalent of more than 2,000 people an hour have signed our petition – which last night stood at more than 151,000 – since its launch on Saturday.
It calls on ministers to think again after awarding the production contract to Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto, which will take over from British producer De La Rue in 2019.
The move puts the jobs of 200 workers at De La Rue’s Gateshead plant at risk.
Yesterday, Home Office Minister Caroline Nokes and Theresa May were grilled by MPs in a heated Commons debate. Though many Labour politicians have backed the plan, former leader Tony Blair last night sneered at their ‘false patriotism’.
The Home Office says it will save £120million over the course of the contract by choosing Gemalto. But industry insiders believe the cost to taxpayers in lost tax revenues could be up to £36million.
The Mail asked the Home Office if a fiscal impact assessment had taken place but a spokesman declined to answer. It is understood it could cost up to another £30million in ‘transition’ costs, as ‘dual operation’ takes place while production switches between companies.
Sources said De La Rue – which holds the current £490million contract – bid millions less for the contract this time around. It puts Gemalto’s bid at as low as £320million.
‘No place for sentimentalism’
The source said industry figures were struggling to understand how the contract could be ‘commercially viable’ and deliver quality of service with such a low bid.
In the Commons yesterday, Labour’s John Spellar demanded Mrs May follow the example of other governments who ‘look after their own industries’. Germany, France, and Spain all award passport contracts to domestic firms.
Tory MPs also criticised the Government’s decision.
Miss Nokes said there were no security concerns and all passports will continue to have personal data added to them in the UK.
She added there was ‘no place for sentimentalism’ when deciding contracts, saying: ‘I am as sorry as anybody that we do not have a British company at the top of this process, but the reality is that, as a minister, I have to reflect on value for money, quality and security.’
Mrs May told MPs she would not step in because her Government believed in ‘competition and open markets’.
She added: ‘Those who say passports can only be produced in their own country would be denying De La Rue a significant amount of their business.’
One outraged Brexiteer said: ‘The national humiliation is not that we have chosen a foreign company over a British one. The national humiliation is that we think the colour of our passports defines our sense of nationhood.’