To expect that our new passports will be printed in the UK

But....are the savings on printing going to be passed onto the British public? Doubt it. Personally I don't actually care where the passports are printed so long as I get them when I need them. IF, has been said, the savings on going abroad are astronomical, then WHY are the costs for passports, (reportedly) being increased?

You couldn’t make it up could you?

Obviously some people could! This is nothing to do with the EU and will almost certainly be exactly the same if/when we leave. The blind tender conditions are, as they always have been, designed under UK conditions not EU conditions. Other countries in the EU also include the jobs that will be made in the country when asking firms to tender - we never have; I wonder why? Could it be that money has always mattered more than people to our government(s) .

The company that is loosing the contract and is all over the media like a rash is international and supplies many other countries. Just what do the Little Englanders on MSM suggest would happen it we stopped other countries tendering. Yes, the passport might be made in England but the work coming from other countries would soon dry up. Madness!

Looks as though I should have put this on the Politics Thread as it has become hijacked yet again by Brexit

Can you show us exactly where the thread has been “hijacked”?

What worries me, is that I suspect that, regardless of where the passports are produced, the cost of procuring a new one, will skyrocket.

Of course the price will rocket Lisalou . They probably can’t fulfill the order for the price ( and they know that ) . The final price will probably come our way higher than the one quoted by De La Rue ( Gateshead ). But hey ho .

Just watching the TV news tonight and can’t help but think that there is one giant (Peter) Rabbit away somewhere !

How many people who want our passports to be made here have complained about our rail, water and energy companies being owned by foreign governments instead of our own?

The cost of procuring a new one is going up in April.

Currently, a standard adult passport or renewal costs £72.50 regardless of how the application is made.

The fee will rise to £75.50 for online applications and £85 for postal applications, making HM Passport Office an added £50million in 2018-19.

Charges for children's passports will go up from £46 currently to £49 online and £58.50 in the post.

The £12.50 increase for the postal service represents a jump of 17 per cent for adults and 27 per cent for children.

When/if we leave Europe will we want everything made in this country ?

Please clarify your point DJ ?

I am ( like you) passionate ( it’s my word of the day) about Remain and more importantly the North East ! I really don’t trust the winning kidders !

Lisalou said that the cost of procuring a new passport would skyrocket. I gave the costs that will happen after April from the passport office website.

The first sentence was about whether people really care about who owns what in the UK.
Most of our utilities and transport companies are owned by foreign companies, many of them being foreign governments. Not many people on here seem that bothered about that when it happened.
So why the fuss about a foreign company printing our passports for less than we could do them ourselves?
You don't trust foreigners - is that what you mean?
But you trust foreigners to run the railways, the water companies, the gas and electricity companies?
It doesn't make sense.

"At the balance sheet date, the Company’s ultimate parent undertaking and controlling party was
CK Hutchison Holdings
Limited (CKHH), a company listed
on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange."

Do you expect Northumbrian Water Ltd to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock exchange?

Aaahemmm but when did I say I trusted “foreigners”
to run our railways, water, gas and electric dJ ?

I think we are being held to ransom (and it will get worse before it gets better) .

I also don’t trust that Gemalto can/will fulfill the contract so much cheaper than De La Rue in Gateshead. I understand bidding for contracts and there are always those who will do it for no profit (or even at a loss) just to secure the work. I also wouldn’t trust that they are being financially supported by the French and Dutch governments in order to secure the contract and provide extra jobs. Or half way through they announce that they need more money.

If the country is going to save money by having our passports made abroad, there will also be the extra costs of paying unemployment benefits to the Gateshead workers who may be made redundant by the loss of the contract.

So you want them all renationalised, do you, gillybob, as that's the only way they can be stopped from being owned by foreigners.
I can't recall you saying that.

I didn’t say I wanted them all renationalised either Dj as well you know .

I would like to see some kind of partnership. Not sure of the exact details but partly private, partly state. The problems with renationalisation (as I see it) is more public sector workers and all the problems that goes with that territory.

What problems go with public sector workers?
Were you pleased to have the roads gritted?
Are you pleased to have your bins emptied?
Are you pleased to have schools for your children and grandchildren to go to?

Ofgs DJ we can’t gave a country full of public sector workers can we ?

Of course I’m pleased my DGC go to school (although I would prefer that it wasn’t miles away from home but that’s a whole other argument that I have been accused of going on and on about ) .

Bins emptied ? ✅ ( would be nice if they were just a teensy bit pleasant though ).

Roads gritted ? very slow on the uptake . The bare minimum . So no tick.

Not having an argument about public versus private sectors today .

Meant to add. Council tax one of the highest in the country ! Council leaders some of the highest paid too .

The East Coast Mainline was better when it wasn't run by Branson as well. Do you think it's okay that your fares are so high because Branson takes a cut and doesn't pay taxes?
I haven't said everything should be public sector, have I? That would be silly. But there are some things which are natural monopolies, like power, water and rail which should be run by local authorities or the government.

weownit.org.uk/why-public-ownership

What I am saying is you can't have it both ways. You can't say it's okay to have private companies run certain businesses then complain when a private company wins the contract.
Printing of the passports is just a small part of it. The personal part of it is still being done by the government.

Durhamjen: IMHO the East Coast Mainline was not better when it was run by other operators, at least not for the last 15 years during the time I have been a regular user. The carriages are cleaner, the loos are cleaner (not saying much though), some of them very comfortably refurbished, food arrangements are better, and it seems to be on time. The worst was when Stagecoach/National Express had it. When they defaulted and it was run by the public sector for a while, it was OK, but Virgin have definitely made improvements on that.

I had a Victor Meldrew moment yesterday whist listening to the radio when I heard this.....! Surely this cannot be allowed to happen.

I'm not saying there aren't issues with private companies running things like the railways, but the Virgin train teams and the managers seem to work hard to me, there's esprit de corps in the organisation and just dashing their efforts doesn't seem fair.

A thread about passports and already I notice certain posters becoming patronising and rude about other posters with whom they don’t agree. I’m fed up with it as I’m sure many others are. I’m fairly sure that’s why we are seeing less ‘political/news’ threads on the daily email. You actually have to look for them now in the political forum.
Anyway, I don’t care what colour my passport will be, although I only renewed mine last year, so I’ve definitely got the red one for quite a while yet. However I would prefer the passport contract to go to Britain, because there is the distinct probability of job losses otherwise, and because apparently France won’t allow their passports to be printed anywhere except France, so why on earth would we not behave in exactly the same way. France always looks looks after number one, perhaps it’s time the U.K. did the same.

Making hay while the sun shines ?