The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Premier urged to explain passport move to staff
Manufacture: Theresa May called upon to speak to UK plant workers
Theresa May has been urged to explain to British workers why the new postBrexit blue passport will be made in France.
The contract to manufacture the document, which Brexiteers see as a symbol of the UK’s regained independence, is set to be awarded to FrancoDutch firm Gemalto rather than De La Rue’s Gateshead plant.
De La Rue boss Martin Sutherland said it was “disappointing and surprising” that “this icon of British identity is going to be manufactured in France”.
The move has been condemned by Brexiteers and Mr Sutherland called on the Prime Minister or Home Secretary Amber Rudd to explain their decision to his workers.
Mr Sutherland said the Home Office had confirmed the move to him, although ministers denied the process was complete.
Mr Sutherland said: “I think we have heard over the last few weeks and months ministers more than happy to come on the media and talk about the blue passports and the fact that the blue passport is an icon of British identity.
“Now this icon of British identity is going to be manufactured in France.”
Mr Sutherland said his firm had been producing passports for the UK for the last 10 years “without a single hiccup” but had been “undercut on price” and would appeal against the decision.
Referring to the Gateshead staff, he said: “I’m going to have to go and face those workers, look at them in the whites of the eyes and try and explain to them why the British Government thinks it’s a sensible decision to buy French passports not British passports.”
He added: “I would actually like to invite Theresa May or Amber Rudd to come to my factory and explain to my dedicated workforce why they think this is a sensible decision to offshore the manufacture of a British icon.”
Mr Sutherland said that his firm was “not allowed to compete for the French passport contract”.
Shares in De La Rue, which earlier this week warned that profits would come in the bottom of expectations, were down nearly 6% on the London Stock Exchange following the news.
The Daily Telegraph reported that Gemalto undercut other bids by around £50 million.
Tory MP Sir Bill Cash, chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, branded the decision “completely wrong and unnecessary”.
Former cabinet minister Priti Patel told The Sun: “To be putting the job in the hands of the French is simply astonishing. It is a national humiliation.”