A UK firm lashed out at ministers today after the contract to produce post-Brexit blue passports was handed to a French company.
De La Rue slammed the decision as 'disappointing and surprising' saying that the government should be 'supporting British business'.
Chief executive Martin Sutherland demanded that Theresa May come and look his staff 'in the eye' to inform them of the move.
Gemalto, which is listed on the French and Dutch stock exchanges and has a French chief executive, is believed to have undercut British and other rivals by £50million.
The contract for the passports was worth £490million – though senior Whitehall sources pointed out that the deal has not been formally signed yet.
A Franco-Dutch firm has been awarded a £490m contract to print Britain's next generation of blue passports, stock picture
Chief executive Martin Sutherland demanded that Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street yesterday) come and look his staff 'in the eye' to inform them of the move
Under EU rules, the Government could not favour a British company and had to choose the best-value bid. This was despite calls by MPs for a domestic firm to produce the new documents.
De La Rue, which produces the current UK passport, had put in a tender with the UK Passport Agency but lost.
The banknote printer had said it would make a significant investment in its Gateshead site if it won.
Mr Sutherland told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I find that a disappointing and surprising decision.
'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'.
Culture Secretary Matt Hancock suggested EU procurement rules were to blame - and hinted things would be different after we cut ties with Brussels.
'The procurement rules are very clear. As it happens, one of the advantages of leaving the EU is that we will be able to have more control over our own procurement rules. But, as I understand it, this procurement is not fully complete,' ,' he said.
Unite union chief Len McCluskey said: 'Passport printing contract decision would not happen in France where its government prints French passports in the country on the basis of national security.'
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said: 'It's farcical that the Tories wanted blue passports to demonstrate our 'independence' from the EU after Brexit, but now they plan to buy passports from a French company at the expense of the British economy.
'Once again we've seen this Government fail to ensure public contracts bring about the public good.
'The next Labour Government will concentrate on upgrading Britain's economy across our nations and regions, not contracting more of it out.'
What is Gemalto, the company that could be printing UK passports?
Gemalto is one of the major global players in producing passports.
It is listed on the French and Dutch stock exchanges, and has a French chief executive.
The firm operates in 180 countries around the world, with revenues of around €3billion and 15,000 employees.
Alongside identity documents, it specialises in providing secure software applications and SIM cards.
Gemalto supplies e-passports to states such as the US, Singapore, Czech Republic, Denmark, France and India.
Its website says: 'Identity authentication and data protection technologies at the heart of modern life.
'We are there when banks exchange funds, people cross borders or drivers step into connected cars.'
Olivier Piou is Chief Executive of Gemalto, the company who won the competition
The lucrative contract has been awarded to Gemalto, who have offices in Holland and France
Immigration minister Brandon Lewis, pictured, announced in December the next British passport would be blue and gold which excited many Brexiteers in his party
Brexiteers also condemned the move.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'I am very sorry to hear it, as De La Rue has a factory in my constituency.
'It seems odd to have a national symbol produced abroad.'
When the UK leaves the European Union it will need a passport that does not display the EU logo. The final design of the passport is not known but firms across Europe raced to win the right to print it.
De La Rue was in competition with both Gemalto and French company Oberthur Technologies. In December last year the then immigration minister Brandon Lewis announced the UK passport would be changed to a blue and gold design – the colours used in the traditional British passport.
In November last year Martin Sutherland, chief executive of De La Rue, said: 'We have submitted our bid for the renewal, which is in 2019 and will last for ten years.
'It would be a shame if in the year of Brexit the contract was lost and the British passport was not printed by a British company.'
Navy blue British passports were first produced in 1920. The burgundy passport was introduced to the UK in 1988, some 15 years after Britain joined the trading bloc.
A Home Office spokesman 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. We do not require passports to be manufactured from the UK.'
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: 'Under EU rules the Government would not have had a choice, but in the future we need to look at the total benefit to the UK.'
Gemalto is registered in Holland and has its headquarters in Amsterdam. It employs 15,000 people in 47 countries around the world.
De La Rue is the world's biggest passport producer. It has six plants in the UK. Theresa May described blue passports as an expression of 'independence and sovereignty'.What is the company De La Rue and what does it do?
De La Rue is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of bank notes and passports.
It was founded in the early 19th century by Thomas De La Rue who started out as a hat maker before branching out into playing cards, stamps and bank notes
It makes over 15 million passports every year providing passports to countries all over the world.
It had produced produced Britain's passports for many years before missing out on the blue passport contract.
Recently it supplied Qatar with the kingdom's first e passports, and supplies ID cards to Rwanda.
The firm also produces over 7 billion banknotes.
It has recently won the contract to supply the new plastic notes to the Bank of England and also provides Kuwait with its new bank notes.
It also works with Microsoft to create certificates of authentication for products.
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