GIVING the contract for British passports to a Franco-Dutch firm is 'absolutely scandalous' says Bolton's UKIP group leader.

De La Rue, which has a base in Westhoughton, has lost out on the contract to produce the post-Brexit British passports to Gemalto, which has headquarters in Paris by the Seine.

Bolton's UKIP leader Cllr Sean Hornby said: "It's absolutely scandalous.

"We should be giving something like that to a British firm.

"On behalf of the party I will be writing to Downing Street to complain about that. It should be done in the UK, it's the symbolism of what it stands for, the insult of awarding the contract to a firm that's in France it's wrong."

De La Rue, currently produces the UK's burgundy EU passport but according to The Times, Gemalto undercut De La Rue's offer by £50 million.

A spokesman for De La Rue said: "We firmly believe this was a good value tender and it's appropriate it's produced in Britain by a British firm."

However, Bolton West MP Chris Green, who spoke up in favour of De La Rue in Parliament, said: "No decision has yet been made.

"There are concerns about the security of data and to ensure our manufacturing and security features are world class and actually those are concerns the French have about passports and their government won't allow none-French companies to print their passports."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The preferred bidder has been selected following a rigorous, fair and open competition and all bidders were notified of the outcome last night. The chosen company demonstrated that they will be best able to meet the needs of our passport service with a high quality and secure product at the best value for money for our customers and the taxpayer.

“It’s been the case since 2009 that we do not require passports to be manufactured in the UK. A proportion of passports have been made overseas since then with up to 20 percent of blank passport books currently produced in Europe with no security or operational concerns."

De La Rue’s site on the Wingates Industrial Estate, where 192 people are employed, helps produce the polymer substrate and security features used in British bank notes and many others around the world.