U.K. passports will be made in France, according to reports that a non-British company was chosen Wednesday to make Britain's post-Brexit passports.
The Home Office said Thursday that competitors for the contract were told of the government's decision Wednesday night. The winner has not been publicly named, but The Telegraph newspaper said the contract has gone to a Franco-Dutch firm, Gemalto.
The chief of the company that makes Britain's current passport says he is disappointed.
Martin Sutherland, chief executive of De La Rue, says "now this icon of British identity is going to be manufactured in France."
Passports are a sensitive topic in Britain — there was joy in some quarters in December when the British government said post-Brexit passports would have blue covers, not the burgundy associated with the European Union.