MS-2: Return of the Blue Passport

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Will Frost
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MS-2: Return of the Blue Passport

Post by Will Frost »

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.
Mr. Speaker,

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.
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Liam McMahon
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Re: MS-2: Return of the Blue Passport

Post by Liam McMahon »

Mr. Speaker,

I thank the Home Secretary for his statement.

This statement is an exciting one for millions of Britons across the country. Many, including those who voted Remain, have a lot of affection for the blue passports we used to hold. I'm sure many across the country and in this House will agree with me when I say the design symbolising our precious Union is one that will resonate with millions of Britons, and it is exciting to hear of the new technological advancements of the passport.

Like many of those Britons, I look forward today to having my own blue British passport Mr. Speaker. But I want to be clear: actions need to match the words. If the government wanted this move to be a truly patriotic one, they should've made sure our passports were created from inside the United Kingdom. If the government wanted this to reflect the sentiment behind the Brexit vote, they should've put British businesses and British industry first.

The government have speculated about the creation of 70 jobs in an undisclosed location, Mr. Speaker. But 170 redundancy notices have been handed out and De La Rue, a British company who were producing our passports in Gateshead, have admitted a further 250 could be one the line. The government's procurement decisions, Mr. Speaker, mean that at best we could see a net loss of 100 jobs and at worst a net loss of 420 jobs. And there has been no reassurance to the people of Gateshead, a constituency that voted to Leave under the promise of taking back control, that those jobs will be delivered to them.

Gateshead is close to home Mr. Speaker. The mind that invented the electric lightbulb resided there; the people who created the Dover-Calais cable worked there and communities that powered Britain and the world thrived there. After years of them being short changed by successive Tory governments and the great potential they have to offer to Britain and the world unrealised, the government has further told the people of Gateshead and Britain that we are unable to produce our passports here. It's a shameful move to penny pinch. Taxpayers would rather a little more be spent to support British companies, British jobs and British industry like De La Rue than the Home Secretary incessantly penny pinch to cut those jobs, cut livelihoods and weaken British industry and to disadvantage British business.

It is not enough, Mr. Speaker, to just deliver on Brexit and call it a job well done. That is the bare minimum the voters have asked for us. The government should deliver on the Brexit result, but it should use Brexit as an opportunity to forge a new era for Britain. That new era won't just be defined by blue passports, but the jobs that create it and the industries that support it. The government should be ensuring through its procurement decisions that towns that voted leave like Gateshead are not left behind, but that the industries, businesses and jobs in Gateshead don't just give people jobs, but further give them pride, identity and dignity.

For too long people in Britain have felt like they haven't had a government that have given them something to be proud of, when we know this country and communities like Gateshead that make it have so much potential. Today, the Home Secretary slammed the door in their face once again.
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