New colour will not be the only difference on Britons’ travel documents
Credit: Open Government Licence v3.0/Crown Copyright
The government has claimed the UK’s new blue passports, which will be issued from next month onwards, will be the “most technologically advanced” such documents ever.
The documents will come into effect from next month. It will mark the first time the UK has issued blue passports since 1988 – when EU countries standardised on burgundy-coloured documents. Before that, the UK issued its citizens with blue passports from 1921 onwards.
A different colour will not be the only difference apparent from next month, with the government claiming that the post-Brexit travel documents will be “the most technologically advanced British passport ever”.
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“[It will feature] a raft of new and updated security features, including a hard-wearing, super-strength polycarbonate data page, which contains innovative technologies embedded into the document, to keep personal data secure,” it added. “It also includes the latest and most secure printing and design techniques, which means it offers better protection against identity theft and fraud, and will be even harder to forge.”
The first blue passports (pictured above, on the left, next to a pre-1988 document) will be issued within the next couple of weeks and will then be phased in over the coming months. From about the second half of this year, all new passports issued will be blue.
In addition to its tech credentials, the document will also be the “greenest British passport ever”, the government claimed.
“The carbon footprint produced through manufacture will be reduced to net zero, through projects such as planting trees,” it said.
Home secretary Priti Patel added: “By returning to the iconic blue and gold design, the British passport will once again be entwined with our national identity and I cannot wait to travel on one.”
