Asked by Lord Lee of Trafford To ask Her Majesty’s Government on
what date they intend to introduce new United Kingdom passports;
and what will be the status of existing passports after 29 March
2019. The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con) My Lords, when...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what date they intend
to introduce new United Kingdom passports; and what will
be the status of existing passports after 29 March 2019.
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My Lords, when the UK leaves the EU, the current burgundy
design will be issued without reference to the European
Union, and a new “Brit blue” passport will be introduced
from late 2019. Existing UK passports conform to all
requirements for international travel documents. There is
no reason for a country to refuse to accept UK passports,
nor indeed is it in their interests to make it harder for
British travellers to enter their country.
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I thank my fellow Traffordian for that Answer. Exchanging
a passport granting access to 28 countries for one
allowing access to only one, and paying £500 million for
the privilege, must go down as one of the worst deals in
history. Could we not be allowed to choose the colour of
our own new passports? If we were, I would chose black,
as Brexit is a black day for this country and a black day
for future generations.
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Well, from young Trafford to Old Trafford—
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It is all relative in your Lordships’ House.
It is not the case that we are going from 28 countries to
one country because, of course, we need a passport to go
to any country. As to choosing the colour, I have thought
about this, and people can have any colour passport that
they wish—they just need to buy a passport cover. As for
which colour the noble Lord might like, I have looked at
different colour passports and there are some rather nice
yellow ones. One has a picture of SpongeBob SquarePants,
but the noble Lord might prefer the one with the bird on
it. Unfortunately, the bird is Tweetie Pie.
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My Lords, I wonder if the noble Baroness can help me on
the issue of citizenship, as raised by the noble Lord,
regarding the onward movement of UK citizens in Europe
following Brexit. It is the question that I asked the
noble Baroness the Leader of the House on the Prime
Minister’s Statement this week. In the withdrawal
agreement published in February, Article 32 makes it
clear that there will be no onward movement for UK
citizens, thus disadvantaging UK citizens post Brexit,
but in the more recent update of the same document,
Article 32 has completely disappeared. The document goes
from Article 31 to Article 33 and makes no reference to
the onward movement of UK citizens, so we really do not
know where we are. Are the Government still negotiating?
Is there a possibility that they will go back to the
table, renegotiate and that UK citizens might have the
same benefits post Brexit as before? Or have they just
conceded the point and did not want to put that in the
document?
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The noble Baroness might have asked that question in the
following Question but I am quite happy to deal with it
in this one. I understand that my noble friend the Leader
of the House is writing to the noble Baroness on this
subject. Of course, such detail is subject to
negotiation, but it is in the interest of both the UK and
the EU for there to be free movement of UK citizens to
other EU states.
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I do not think the noble Baroness has quite got the point
I made. The updated document contains issues that are
subject to negotiation and issues that have been agreed.
What has happened is that that article has disappeared
from the document entirely. What does that mean?
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It means that it will be subject to negotiations between
this country and the EU. The noble Baroness has asked me
about a specific point and, as well as my noble friend
the Leader writing to her, I shall follow it up.
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My Lords, does my noble friend recognise that much more
important than the colour of passports is the urgent
need, in the interests of national security, to review
the whole way in which passports are used? First, there
is still not full scrutiny of all passports on departure.
Secondly, information on the passports of those who have
been excluded or deported is not recorded in such a way
that immigration officers can see it and stop them coming
in. Thirdly, there is no proper recording of stolen or
lost passports with the immigration officers. Fourthly,
information on people with second passports is not
recorded and not available to immigration officers, who
therefore lack the ability to check on the security
implications of some movements.
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My noble friend asked several questions. It is perfectly
legitimate, for most countries, to own two passports if
someone has dual nationality. In the case of stolen or
lost passports, that should be declared to the passport
authorities. On being deported, some people who have been
deported will be on the list that border officials will
have; others will not, of course, but the security
services will certainly be aware of them. On the question
about not all passports being checked on exit from this
country, I think that most are. I do not know of a
situation where one’s passport would not be checked when
leaving this country.
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I appreciate that my noble friend’s Question applies to
all travellers, but I am particularly concerned about the
ability of performers and technicians to move freely
between the UK and Europe for creative activities,
unencumbered by red tape and, crucially, at short notice.
Does the Minister agree that whatever the colour of the
passport, there should be an EU-wide touring passport?
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I thought the noble Baroness said a “Tory” passport, but
I think she actually said “touring” passport. Of course,
everyone in their line of work or indeed, for leisure,
should be allowed to move freely. The December Statement
by the Prime Minister made it quite clear that that is
exactly what she seeks.
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I do not really care what colour the passport is; I would
just like a system that works. Can the Minister recall
that on 12 March, I suggested to her colleague, the noble
Lord, Lord Young, that we would never have a system that
works in the absence of fully biometric passports, visas
and ID cards? In the light of the news this morning that
over the past two years, there have been 600,000 visitors
to this country for whom the immigration department has
no evidence of exit, and a separate 210,000 for whom it
has evidence of exit but did not know they had come to
this country in the first place, will the noble Baroness
consider bringing in a comprehensive biometric system to
protect this country and manage immigration in and
emigration out?
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The noble Lord is of course right that we need a system
that works. There will be enhanced biometric elements in
the new passport, and we constantly update the passport
to keep it secure and the details required to be on it up
to date.
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