Global free traders among the populace are complaining bitterly about the passport contract being placed with a Franco-Dutch company. They seem to have switched overnight from free traders to protectionist. Some seem to want the contract placed with De La Rue regardless of the price.
In the Independent someone has described it as a "national humiliation" (HERE).
Bill Cash, chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee and arch Brexiteer, branded the move “completely wrong and unnecessary”. When challenged on this by Evan Davies on Newsnight last night Cash claimed he wasn't a protectionist and was a champion of free trade as long as it was "fair". He then called for an inquiry as if he had already concluded the whole process was unfair in some way. Of course, by "fair" he means where the UK wins the contract regardless of anything else.
A Telegraph reader even claims that it's "asinine" to have our passports made abroad (HERE).
I think this is at the heart of the Brexit problem. A belief that somehow the world is wrong. We keep losing and getting poorer when we should be winning and becoming wealthier. Brexiteers keep looking at the problem and scratching their heads but fail to understand how to deal with it. The world must be wrong and it shouldn't be.
They should visit Gemalto and De La Rue. My guess is that they would be shocked by the way the two companies approached the bidding process and how they plan to handle the work when it starts in 2019. Will De La Rue learn anything from losing the contract? Probably not. The CEO was on Radio 4 yesterday asking Theresa May to come to their Durham factory and explain why they're not going to be awarded the contract. He should look at himself - but he won't. It's the British way.
