Downing Street say security concerns made them award passport contract to French firm
2 min read
A French firm beat a British company to the contract to print the UK's new blue passports because they offered more guarantees about the security of users' information, it has emerged.
A row erupted when it emerged Gemalto had been chosen ahead of Basingstoke-based De La Rue - which has been printing British passports for the last 10 years - for the multi-million pound contract.
De La Rue boss Martin Sutherland called on Theresa May and Amber Rudd to visit the company's factory in Gateshead to "explain to a dedicated workforce why they think this is a sensible decision, to offshore the manufacture of a British icon".
Union bosses and Brexit-backing Conservative MPs also condemned the move.
But a spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted the decision to choose the French bid had been taken after a fair process.
He said: "We feel the chosen company demonstrated that they would be best able to meet the needs of our passport service. We needed a high quality and secure product which gets the best value for money for the taxpayer.
"This was a new bidding process, which rightly went out to tender and we feel that the chosen company both demonstrates the best value for money for the taxpayer, and also in these kinds of things, security is paramount and we feel that the chosen bidder meets those needs. But no judgement on De La Rue specifically."
The spokesman added that the winning company "scored full marks for the IT and security solutions and all facilities meet required standards for information security".
De La Rue have said they will appeal against the decision, which is yet to be formally announced.
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