Thank you for those who emailed me regarding the recent announcement about the contract for the new UK passport.
Whilst I also regret the fact that it is not a British based company that has secured the business I am aware that not all the facts have come out as to why the decision was made and I hope the following will make that clearer.
According to the Home Office the preferred bidder was selected following a rigorous, fair and open competition as one would expect. The chosen company demonstrated that they will be best able to meet the needs of our passport service with a high quality and secure product at the best value for money for the taxpayer. It has been the case since 2009 under the last government that we do not require passports to be manufactured in the UK. A proportion of passports have been made overseas since then with up to 20 per cent of blank passport books currently produced in Europe with no security or operational concerns.
The preferred bid will save the taxpayer approximately £120m during the lifetime of the new contract and the quality of the passport was prioritised over cost when examining the various bids at a split of 60/40. The preferred supplier is an experienced and trusted company which already works with our government on the production of UK driving licences, UK Biometric Residence Permit cards and on e-gates at the border.
What has not come out in any of the reports I have read is that the work is going to be carried out in the UK with new factories in Fareham and Heywood which are expected to create up to 70 jobs including support staff across the two locations. These will obviously be jobs paying tax in the UK. It is not clear whether there will be an impact on existing jobs at the British company De La Rue whose bid was unsuccessful but this contract was only one part of De La Rue’s business where annual turnover is over £460m. That company is the world's largest commercial designer and printer of passports, delivering national and international identity tokens and software solutions for governments in over 120 countries.
Whilst the passport contract is a totemic and important one and I have already said I am disappointed that no British company was able to provide the best bid if we believe in free trade then we have to take the rough with the smooth. One of the reasons I campaigned for Brexit is that the EU has constrained our ability to negotiate free trade agreements around the world. Far from being a promoter of free trade the EU itself is something of a protectionist bloc and of course the terms of this tender were designed according to EU procurement rules.
De La Rue produces passports for many other countries around the world so effectively should we be saying that those governments should prioritise their own domestic companies to produce passports and other official documentation if only a British company will do for us? Of course the answer is no, and it is difficult to justify landing the taxpayer with an additional bill of £120m when there are perfectly effective alternatives.
I hope this gives a slightly more balanced perspective on what has happened and I gather that De La Rue is in any case considering appealing the decision so if there is anything untoward about the way the contract was awarded that can be scrutinised properly.