Thank you for your recent email regarding the announcement
over the company that will be .
While I understand that on the surface the decision to grant
the tender to produce British passports in the future to a French/Dutch company may seem odd, there are in fact, a number
of reasons why I am not objecting to this move.
Firstly, the company in question has factories in Britain,
and I understand the passports will be manufactured in the UK, thus
safeguarding and creating jobs.
Secondly, the money spent on the manufacture of passports is
taxpayer money and we have a duty to be diligent with its use and provide best
value for the taxpayer. I understand the winning company in the tender saved
£120m on the next best bid, and this is money that can be used to provide
essential services elsewhere.
Finally, once Brexit happens, we need to be an outward
looking, international trading nation, and as such we need to be prepared to
import and export services both to and from other countries, both the EU and
beyond. We can’t make exceptions on this and I would rather see a confident
global Britain operating on the world stage than one this purely insular and
inward looking.
