You need to click on James Cleverly (written in blue) to access the link… and NOT the blue arrow… 
Hi Mandy
OK, I don’t have television so my information is via the internet, that is why I only read the report posted by the BBC re Mary Creagh.
So, it appears that if we didn’t have Brexit we would have had to change our passports anyway because they weren’t secure enough! Some words spring to mind that I won’t express here, but if a biometric passport isn’t secure enough then what do they propose? Changing the colour won’t make them more secure, are any other countries changing their passports ?
Does anyone here really know the cost of changing the colour? Personally I don’t care if it’s zebra striped but inks cost money, paper costs money and the covers cost a huge amount so to say that it will cost the taxpayer nothing is a load of Xmas b***s!
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I wouldn’t see an issue with that Stella, it would still cost, no matter what colour. I guess they will just stop ordering, until they have run down on the burgundy, and a definitive decision made.
The whole “hullabaloo”, ( like many others), a good example of what we call sensationalist journalism, and coupled with totally impractical remarks of some MP’s ( who really should know better by now) doesn’t help.
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As usual it’s all smoke and mirrors and half truths. I don’t believe anything UK government ministers say anymore. It’s all just guff!!
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They were black, or very very very very close to black.
The cost of the new passports, although the government is denying it, will be just shy of £500m. As James Caan, the Dragon’s Den star said, “A country that would spend £500m to change the colour of a passport while children sleep on the streets is a country whose priorities are wholly out of whack.“
The original ones were first issued in 1921, and, in keeping what was then the official language of diplomacy, they were entirely in French.
I personally couldn’t give a toss about the colour of my passport.
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I wonder if Nigel Faridge has appreciated that subtle point. Still, as his latest girlfriend is french, she should be able to translate it for him 
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We really don’t need Fake News from any quarter…at least James Caan C.B.E. has amended his Tweet…
sound about right
Its actually been on the card. Last passport update was 4 years ago and they are making it the same paper as the new 5 nd 10 pound notes (or similar)
The blue will cost no more money than the current one and news reporting its costing millions is fake.
The timing fits to change the color though
Hi Harry
No way is it the same paper as that used for paper money.
A different ‘dandy’ is used for the watermarking for one thing and those are hugely expensive. The paper has to be of a different’ micron’ (weight) to fit into the pre-made cases. Trust me I know ! 
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Can I just mention the new “paper” bank notes. On a recent visit to UK… 3 times a folded £10 note slipped out of my jeans’ pocket, because the “plastic- paper” does not hold a crease and kept “moving”…darn nuisance.
First time it happened I was excited thinking I had found some money, then realized it was mine… 
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Yes I remember them as black. Very big, very stiff cardboard with sharp corners, very inconvenient to carry around. I don’t recall passports in the blue colour they show in the pictures, must have been before my time, and my first passport would have been issued in the 60s I think.
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hence the similar point and its all to do with security as new things are invented such as the new 5 and 10 pound notes it reduces the ways in which criminals can make forgeries.
The new passport is scheduled for 2019 anyhow so its nothing they have invented just a color change on the cover.
As things are created they are introduced into society or should we go backwards and make it easier for forgers to create dodgy documents?
The only thing to do with leaving the eu and the passport is the color the rest has been in planning for quite some time and when they introduced the new notes they even said back then similar tech will be used in the next passport update.
All this nonsense is to do with creating hype around Brexit which we all know is a totaly messed up affair that will likely go very badly for the Uk but it has nothing to do with the passport contents and update.
Watch the video where its explained https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/944289069021958146
It’s not exactly fake, because the contract for the current passports expires in 2019, and the new contract will cost £500m.
for entire passport maybe but not for the blue design. its all about security and people paying for new passports will be paying that bill.
Of course it’s fake news, the cost would still be the same if they kept the burgundy colour!
Someone pointed out that the cost of the new passports would be £500m. Correct. It would be more interesting to know why on earth it will cost that much, given the public sector’s extraordinary ability to hand out IT contracts for ludicrously enormous amounts.
Dominic, the contract is for 11 and a half years. Roughly 6 million UK passports are issued every year so if you do the maths over the course of the contract approximately 70 million passports will be produced at an individual cost of £7.15 each. Hardly a rip-off is it.
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I would have thought on that volume, it should be more like 50p.