New British passports to be printed in European Union

The current burgundy passport, which are in use since 1988, will be changed to its original blue colour from October 2019.  Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto won the £490m contract to print post-brexit UK passports leaving current UK supplier De La Rue behind. De La Rue was beaten on price in an open tender competition which was held under EU rules. This way the Government can not favour a local company and has to select the best-value bid. It is very likely that Gemalto will print the passport’s bodies abroad but all security aspects of the document such as personalised data chips will be produced in the UK. The Home Office said that no final decision had been made but also added that they do not require passports to be manufactured in the UK and some blank covers were already made overseas. Existing red passports will remain valid until they expire.