“Leaving the European Union gave us a unique opportunity to restore our national identity and forge a new path in the world,” says UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Following Britain’s high profile and torturously drawn out exit from the European Union, brand new “iconic” passports are on the way.
Officially unveiled by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on Saturday (22 February), the new passport boasts a blue-and-gold design, replacing burgundy editions that were gradually rolled out from 1988.
Notably, the post-Brexit passports will be manufactured within the EU by a Franco/Dutch company operating out of a factory in Poland, a fact not highlighted in the UK Home Office’s official announcement on the subject.
According to the UK Times, the 11-year manufacturing contract is worth £260 million and will see passports developed in the Polish town of Tczew before being imported into Britain.
The first new passports, complete with “traditional” blue colour, will be issued from March.
“The colour is not the only change, in a first for the British passport, the back cover will also carry its own symbolic design – the floral emblems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales embossed,” notes a UK government statement.
The passport is also being touted as both the “most technologically advanced” and “the greenest British passport ever”, reducing the carbon footprint produced through manufacture to net zero through projects such as planting trees.
“Leaving the European Union gave us a unique opportunity to restore our national identity and forge a new path in the world,” said Priti Patel.
“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.”
UK citizens with a valid burgundy passport may continue to use it until the original date of expiration arrives.
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