​New UK Passports Could Be Made In France Or Germany

Things have gone all #ThrowbackThursday in the UK, with the current burgundy passport now being replaced by a new blue and gold version.

"The blue cover is a return to the original appearance of the British passport, with the colour first used in 1921," an update on the Conservative Party website says. "It remained the colour of choice until the UK joined the EU and the burgundy common format colour was adopted."

Prime Minister Theresa May posted on Twitter, saying: "The UK passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty - symbolising our citizenship of a proud, great nation. That's why we have announced that the iconic #bluepassport will return after we leave the European Union in 2019."

Credit: PA

However, in a bit of a twist of the plot, the new passports could be made in France or Germany, according to The Times. The newspaper said companies believed to be French and German will be battling it out with the British private security company, De La Rue, to win the contract to produce the passports.

You know when Alanis Morissette sang about things being ironic? Yeah, that.

The post on the Conservative Party website also says that the blue passport will be 'one of the most secure travel documents in the world', and will come with a raft of new security features to protect against fraud and forgery.

But despite the cheery, positive tone, it seems not everyone's impressed with the changes.

Labour MP Mary Creagh tweeted: "No-one under 45 will have owned a blue passport & most will think they're not worth £50 billion & crashing the economy."

Former Labour leadership candidate Chuka Umunna also said: "I have not had any constituent write demanding the return of the blue passport - I have, however, had many asking where the promised £350m extra per week for the NHS is, which is immeasurably more important."

The new blue and gold passports will be issued from October 2019, both for those renewing their passport when the change is in place and anyone applying for a new passport.

Topics: UK News, Passport, News, EU, theresa may, brexit, UK, Politics

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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