Tories on the back foot over blue passport ‘fake news’

It’s fair to say that the government announcement that British passports will be blue once more after Brexit has received a mixed response. The Sun say it’s a no less than stunning Brexit victory for the paper – which had been campaigning for the move – and Nigel Farage has also been quick to express delight. Others have questioned Theresa May’s Brexit priorities. However, the issue that should worry the government isn’t so much what shade they ought to be but the confusion over how much they cost.

There are reports online that the colour change will cost the taxpayer a cool £500 million. This is the claim doing the rounds today after James Caan, a former panellist on Dragon’s Den, suggested this on Twitter, linking to an old article by the Independent, from April, which referred to the Home Office launching a tender process for the design and production of passports from 2019.