British passport to go blue after Brexit

LONDON -- Britain will symbolize its process of leaving the E.U. by changing the color of its passports from burgundy to blue once Brexit is complete, the U.K. Home Office announced in a statement today.

Beginning in October 2019, British passports will no longer bear the E.U.'s burgundy color or its insignia, the Home Office said. Instead, passports will bear the blue and gold design first introduced in 1921.

“It will also be one of the most secure travel documents in the world, with a raft of new security measures to protect against fraud and forgery,” Brandon Lewis, the U.K.’s immigration minister, said in the statement.

Tory MP Mark Pritchard raised his concerns in parliament Thursday that the new passports could be designed and printed in Germany rather than made in Britain. In its statement, the Home Office said a supplier for the new passports would be appointed next year and more details would be released then.

Supporters and opponents of Brexit reacted to the news of the passport redesign on social media.

A member of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party, Patrick O'Flynn, who supported Brexit, tweeted: "My passport doesn’t expire till 2025 but I will see if they let me renew early just to get rid of the words ‘European Union’ from the front!”

Kirsty Blackman, a Scottish parliamentarian, tweeted: “Call me old fashioned, but I’d rather have guaranteed visa free travel in 27 countries than a blue passport.”