UK's classic blue-and-gold passport to return

Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday hailed the return of Britain’s classic blue passport as a benefit of leaving the EU, pleasing Brexit campaigners for whom it is a symbol of national sovereignty but attracting derision from many remainers. The government said a version of the old passport, issued to Britons from 1920 to 1988, when it was replaced by the burgundy jacket of the European Union, will be reintroduced after the country leaves the bloc in March 2019.

“The UK passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty - symbolizing our citizenship of a proud, great nation,” May said on Twitter.
“That’s why we have announced that the iconic blue passport will return after we leave the European Union in 2019.”
During often bitter campaigning for the June 2016 referendum on whether to leave the EU, which Britain joined in 1973, some Brexit supporters seized on the color of the passport as a symbol of the country’s lost independence.  Opponents meanwhile mocked their attachment to something superficial while arguing that Brexit would diminish Britain’s real standing in the world.