UPDATED: As discussions heat up about where the United Kingdom’s blue passports will be printed following the country’s separation from the EU, it has today (Sunday 1st April) been announced that those living on the Isle of Wight will require a passport to travel to mainland Britain.
Brexit will see Border Control tightened up and this will mean that all traffic in and out of the country’s ports will be subject to passport control, even for local traffic such as the Isle of Wight ferries.
The shock news comes just days after the passport application fee increased to £75.50 for online applications and £85 for postal applications. HM Passport Office is set to generate an extra £50million in 2018-19 and that figure will no doubt rise when Islanders are forced to acquire a passport next year.
All those renewing or applying for a new passport from October 2019 will automatically receive a brand new dark blue passport with gold trim. The blue cover is a return to the original appearance of the British passport, with the colour first used in 1921. It remained the colour of choice until the UK joined the EU and the burgundy common format colour was agreed and adopted.
Further details about how this will affect cross-Solent travel is expected to be released at midday today.
UPDATE @ 12:00 – You guessed it! This was our April Fools story for 2017…
However, the blue passports will be making a return from October 2019.
