Dutch French firm Gemalto has won the contract to produce the new blue British passports which will be used by British nationals after Brexit, much to the fury of many people in Britain.

The decision to award the €560m contract to the European firm led British company De La Rue to describe the decision as ‘disappointing’. The government should have been ‘supporting British business’, the company said.

De La Rue has the current contract to supply Britain’s European passports, but that deal expires next year. Under EU rules, the government has to put the contract out to European tender.

Gemalto, which specialises in identity documents, is listed on both the Amsterdam and Paris stock exchanges. It already supplies passports to the US, Denmark, France and India but not, according to its website, to the Netherlands.