It’s time to bring BACK the famous dark blue UK passport as a ‘symbol of our independence’ after Brexit
The Sun wants a pledge from No10 to reintroduce the true blue document, which was ditched in 1988 for an EU-approved burgundy passport
THE Sun is calling on the Government to bring back our famous dark blue passport — as a symbol of the UK regaining sovereignty from the EU.
We want a pledge from No10 to reintroduce the true blue, ditched in 1988 for an EU-approved burgundy passport.
Patriotic MPs are rallying to our campaign for the rebirth of the dark blue UK passport — to show our pride at being a fully independent nation again.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “A country’s passport is a symbol of its sovereignty.
“As we get our sovereignty back, I’m looking forward to getting my British passport back too.”
Fellow Tory Andrew Rosindell said: “It’s a matter of identity.
“Having the pink European passports has been a humiliation.
“I totally back The Sun’s campaign.
“When I was first a parliamentary candidate, I was asked if I could bring in any bill what would it be — and I wanted to bring back the blue British passport.”
Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, a key Brexit figure, said: “Bringing back the blue passport would symbolise that we are once again British subjects and not EU citizens.
“It would be a visible sign that we are an individual country.”
Home Office minister Robert Goodwill last week said there were “no immediate plans” for changes to the UK passport’s format or colour.
But Mr Hannan added: “There were no plans to leave the EU at all until recently, so they had better start planning quickly.”
Tory MP Peter Bone said: “Well done to The Sun for this campaign.
“This is a great idea, which will find support across the country.”
The growing clamour among the public to ditch the EU-imposed burgundy passport for the traditional true blue UK version was summed up recently by Vote Leave campaigner Liz Hurley.
She wrote: “I yearn for the days when my (gorgeous navy blue) passport got stamped when I went anywhere in Europe and I loved puzzling over fistfuls of Italian lire, French francs and Deutschmarks. It was glamorous and exciting.”
The Sun Says: Our view on returning to blue
Most Brits considers ourselves British - not citizens of the EU. Nothing affirms that national identity, or our sovereignty, like the historic old blue passports.
Having EU-approved ones may have been convenient over the last 28 years in the Brussels club. That must change now. The Government must make plans to reintroduce the blue ones... and the sooner the better.
We'll be first in the queue for a new blue.
The Sun is calling for the Government to give a commitment to go back to blue for all new passports — with a firm start date.
The “Old Blue” passport was introduced in 1920.
Six years later the League of Nations — forerunner of the United Nations — described the elegant British design as “perfection itself”.
But in 1981 — eight years after we joined the EU — Brussels demanded all member states should have a “European” passport within four years.
Britain resisted strongly until 1988.
We were the last of the then EU nations to go burgundy.
The change led to howls of protest in Britain and cost taxpayers £1.5million because a new printing line had to be built.
The national identity: A timeline showing the history of the UK passport
THE first passport-type papers appeared in 1414 with a "safe conduct" document referred to in an Act of Parliament in Henry V's reign.
1540: Travel papers are called passports for the first time.
1641: Oldest surviving British passport was issued.
1794: The Home Office takes control of issuing them in a role it still has today.
1835: Row breaks out over "degrading" demands for British passports to include physical descriptions.
1858: Passports are written in English for the first time. They had been in French, the official language of diplomacy.
1915: Passport books similar to those we use today were first issued.
1920: Our iconic blue book created.
1972: Watermarks were introduced.
1975: Laminated photos were added to help prevent pictures being switched.
1988: Blue book ordered to be abolished after the EU demands Britain use European Common Format Passport.
1993: The blue passport was ditched.
2002: Famous last-minute London Passport Office leaves Petty France, Westminster, for Victoria.
In 2000 the UK had to fight off a plan to remove the Queen’s crest from the passport and possibly introduce the 12-star EU logo on its cover.
And in 2007 Brussels tried to make our passports “more European” by removing the phrase “Her Britannic Majesty”.
All EU countries except Croatia now use a burgundy passport.
Around five million passports are issued by the UK Passport Office each year.
They cost £72.50 each and are made by private security firm De La Rue, which also designs and prints British banknotes.
History from bard to good: British passports then and now
SHAKESPEARE'S Henry V tells doubting soldiers their "passport will be made" if they want to quit his army, in the play set in 1415.
Our oldest surviving passport, signed by Charles I, dates to 1641.
In 1835, Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston rubbished a demand by Belgium for passports to include physical descriptions.
He blasted the request as "degrading and offensive".
But we did attach photos to soldiers' documents in World War One, which cost six old pence. The first modern passports, in 1915, were a folded page with a description including face shape.
In 1920, the League of Nations decided on book formats and Britain chose dark blue.
Height, eye and hair colour were added, plus text to let the bearer "pass freely without hindrance".
The design barely changed until 1988, when the EU Common Format Passport came in.
The changeover cost UK taxpayers £1.5million.
The company signed a £400million deal in 2010 to produce UK passports for the next ten years.
The contract has already delivered more than 30 million.
Under the terms of the deal, De La Rue is expected to undertake major design changes to combat sophisticated ID frauds.
So it is believed changing just the passport’s colour would be a simple process that did not incur exorbitant costs.
But the size of the passport cannot be changed because of strict international regulations.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) dictates any passport must conform to 125mm x 88mm dimensions.
Many campaigners believe No10 could set a date for all new passports to be issued in the “Old Blue” as Brexit negotiations continue.