Brexiteers fume over new 'blue' British passports which turn out to be black

Composite picture of an old British passport (left) and a burgundy UK passport in the European Union style format; PA - Credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images

Brexiteers are fuming about the colour of the new British passport, claiming that they are black rather than the promised ‘iconic’ blue.

Priti Patel poses with a new ‘blue’ passport. Photograph: Home Office. – Credit: Archant

The new design, which replaces the burgundy colour that Britons have used since 1988, came into force in March to coincide with the UK’s departure from the EU.

However, people are livid after copies they received turned out to be black, instead of the navy blue that coated British passports decades earlier.

‘Well, the blue passport is black for one thing,’ Isaac Mottisone wrote on Twitter.

Lee Rogers said: ‘Well that was worth all the trouble a blue passport that’s actually black and makes travel to practically everywhere more difficult.’

https://twitter.com/AndrewWilson/status/1273234945855696896

Others complained about the quality of the new design.

Ashley Gorman wrote: ‘And to top off the misery, the passport is black (not even blue?!), really poor quality, flimsy and thin, and the edges are peeling. If it already looks like this, imagine what it will be like after a few years.’

https://twitter.com/Niall_McGourty/status/1235599726197846016

Another called it a ‘major downgrade’, blasting the look as ‘ultra-bland’.

Many, however, could not miss the irony of the situation.


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Scientists for EU head Mike Galsworthy called the bungled colour scheme ‘an analogy for Brexit on so many levels’.

Stephen Gallagher wrote: ‘Wait till they find out about the ‘freedom of movement’ part.’

In a statement, the Home Office said that the official colour is still classed as blue. A department spokesperson said it was shade number 5395C, according to the standardised colour classification chart, Pantone.

Home office secretary Priti Patel was elated about the new look, saying it ‘entwined with our national identity’ and that she could not ‘wait to travel on one’.

The new passports will also carry its own symbolic design – the floral emblems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales embossed on the back cover.