Senior UK officials have said the government must rethink a planned contract award for the country's iconic first pro-Brexit blue passport.Members of the House of Lords have called on the government to reconsider awarding a contract to print new blue UK passports to a Franco-Dutch firm.Conservative peer Lord Naseby said it would have a major adverse effect on "the whole of British industry, and the British people as they face Brexit".Culture Secretary Matt Hancock has also said the current process of awarding a new contract was not yet complete.He added that the procurement process for passports would be different after Brexit, and added that"One of the advantages of leaving the European Union is that we'll be able to have more control over our procurement policies," Mr Hancock said.He was reacting to an announcement from Martin Sutherland, boss of British firm De La Rue, that it had been beaten to a contract to manufacture the replacement blue passports to France's Gemalto.The Home Office said it would award the contract to Gemalto because its offer will save taxpayers more than £120million.Speaking on ITV's Peston on Sunday this morning, the opposition Labour's Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer declared official party support to keep passports printed in Britain.When quizzed on whether the Government should have chosen a British company, he said: "Yes, they should. The passport is such an important issue, of course, it should be a British company."

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