Britain’s post-Brexit blue passport is set to be made by a Franco-Dutch firm, according to reports.
Changing the colour from the burgundy favoured across the EU is regarded by some Brexiters as a powerful symbol of Britain’s restored sovereignty.
But it was reported that British firm De La Rue had lost out to Gemalto, which is listed on the French and Dutch stock exchanges, in the race to win the £490m printing job.
The Home Office last night insisted no final decision has yet been made on where the new passports would be printed. A spokeswoman said: “We are running a fair and open competition to ensure that the new contract delivers a high quality and secure product and offers the best value for money for customers.
“We do not require passports to be manufactured in the UK. A proportion of blank passport books are currently manufactured overseas, and there are no security or operational reasons why this would not continue.”
Theresa May told the House of Commons in February: “It is right that from autumn 2019 we will issue new blue and gold passports, which have always been the UK’s colours…
