Aleesha Hansel
THE BRITISH passport will no longer include the EU insignia and will change from burgundy to blue following Brexit.
Redesigning and producing the document will cost £490 million.
Home Office Minister Brandon Lewis stated his intention to make the new version the ‘most high-tech and secure we have ever seen’.
Lewis said: “Leaving the EU gives us a unique opportunity to restore our national identity and forge a new path for ourselves in the world.”
The new passports will be phased in, although burgundy passports will continue to be issued without EU markings until the current supplier’s contract expires in October 2019.
The new blue and gold design will then be issued to people renewing or applying for a new passport.
Blue was first used for the cover of the British passport in 1921, before it changed in 1988 after the UK joined the European Economic Community.
