British Passports Colour Change Blue After Brexit 2019

Have you ever sat back and dreamed of how much better your life would be if only your passport were blue instead of burgundy? Us neither.

So, you might be shocked to learn how much money the government is going to spend on redesigning British passports following our exit from the European Union. Care to hazard a guess? Clue: it's even more than the bogus weekly £350m figure that Leave campaigners said would go towards the NHS in the event of Brexit.

Drumroll please... The superficial redesign is going to cost an eye-watering £500m(!), according to the Home Office. Anyone renewing or applying for a new passport from October 2019 will get a dark blue and gold passport instead of the current burgundy version, a move that immigration minister Brandon Lewis said will help the country "restore our national identity".

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Dark blue and gold British passports were issued from 1921 until 1988 when the burgundy and document began to be rolled out, in line with other countries in the European Economic Community, as the EU was then known.

The news was an early Christmas for former UKIP leader and face of the Leave campaign Nigel Farage, who tweeted "Happy Brexmas!" "In the 2016 referendum, we wanted our passports back. Now we've got them back!," he added, and he didn't stop there.

In the 2016 referendum, we wanted our passports back. Now we've got them back! ?? pic.twitter.com/9cS8TMzX9k
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 22, 2017

"A return to British passports means we are becoming a proper country again," he added. "We are getting our individuality and national identity back." If you say so, Nige.

When British passports change colour, the country will join the 77 other countries with blue passports, according to Passport Index. These include former colonial and Commonwealth countries like the US, Australia and Canada, as well as several Caribbean countries.

While right-wing politicians and media outlets are hailing the change a victory for national sovereignty, many others are at best indifferent to the change and at worst enraged at the expense.

buzzing to lose the right to live & work in 27 countries in exchange for this minging blue passport xoxo thanks Tez hunni https://t.co/1SJAWwZtI4
— beth mccoll (@imteddybless) December 22, 2017

“What does this new passport do?”
“It’s blue.”
“Can I use it to travel freely and work in 26 neighbouring countries?”
“No - but look, it’s blue.”
— John O'Farrell (@mrjohnofarrell) December 22, 2017

I’ve just spent the last ten minutes screaming “Take that you burgundy symbol of EU oppression” at my passport. It just stares insolently back, as if it is an inanimate and merely functional object and its colour doesn’t matter.
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) December 22, 2017

A country isn't made great or important by the colour of its passports but by its relationships with other countries. Britain's after #brexit #bluepassport doesn't return us to fictional great past but a diminished present reality.
— Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) December 22, 2017

While away the 4 hour border queue by admiring and caressing the sheer Britishness of your new BRITISH!!!! blue passport
— Owen Jones? (@OwenJones84) December 22, 2017

But hey, happy "Brexmas".

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