Mr. Speaker,Ministerial Statement - Rollout of the Blue Passports
Issue: With the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union officially formalized, our country now has the ability and obligation to make necessary updates to citizen’s passports. As promised by former Prime Minister the Rt. Hon Member for Maidenhead, Britain’s departure from the EU would coincide with a return to the iconic blue passport previously used by British citizens prior to our joining the European Union. Now that regulatory pressure from Brussels to adopt the standard burgundy-coloured passport is no longer present, the Government seeks to roll out the adoption of the blue passport.
Intervention and Implementation: Starting in July of this year, blue passports will be available for application and use for all British citizens. Citizens will be able to apply in person, via the mail, or online through HM Passport Office for their new passport. In addition to the return to the iconic blue color, the back cover of the passport will be embossed with a newly designed logo that features the national flowers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland beautifully intertwined together.
The passports will be the most technologically advanced in British history, using new technology made available by the firm the Government is contracting out with to create the new passports. They have been in production since 2018, and include a new hard wearing, super strength polycarbonate data page utilized to keep personal data secure. The passports will also be the greenest in history, with the manufacturer using state of the art technology to reduce the production’s carbon footprint.
Citizens will be permitted to use their existing, burgundy-coloured passports if they so choose until the date of their passport’s expiration.
Cost: As the order has already been made, there will be no additional cost to the taxpayer outside of what the Government has already provided to the manufacturer. The contract, approved and won by Gemalto in 2018, will last 11 and a half years.
This Ministerial Statement is very straightforward, so I will keep my remarks brief and not take up too much of the House's time. One of the great symbols of British sovereignty and independence was, for decades, our iconic blue passport. For many of us it was a shame that the passport had become a relic of the past as a result of our membership to the European Union, and a symbol of the EU's unnecessary desire to fully integrate the independent nations of Europe into one solitary bureaucratic super state. Today, I am happy to announce that with the United Kingdom's departure from the EU, British citizens will once again be using blue passports.
Making good on the promise made by the former Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Member for Maidenhead, I can confirm that within the next month British citizens will be able to apply for their new, blue passport. The passport will hark back to the original color and design, but will feature a new emblem embossed on the back cover, depicting four intertwined flowers representing Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland. The passport will be the most technologically advanced in our country's history, employing high level identity protection technology to protect the security and personal data of British citizens. It will also be significantly more environmentally friendly than the previous passport, with the contracting responsible for producing the passports using manufacturing methods that are more in line with the Government's aspirations to keep our country and planet clean.
This is an exciting day for the United Kingdom, and an exciting day for the British people. With this announcement, we are taking a meaningful step forward to reassert ourselves as a proud, strong, confident independent nation before the global community. The blue passport will be a symbol seen around the world representing Britain's unique national character and sovereignty, while highlighting our role as an island nation historically connected to our friends on the European content via travel and trade. I commend this statement to the House, and look forward to traveling with my own blue passport very soon.