'Utterly absurd!' Lib Dem BASHES 'ridiculous' Brexiteers for rejoicing over blue passport
THE leading Liberal Democrat Sir Ed Davey criticised the idea that the blue passport shoud be treated as a Brexit victory as "absolutely absurd".
Ed Davey blasts 'absurd' passport colour change
Sir Ed Davey hit out at Brexiteers boasting that the blue passport announcement was a victory for the country as "ridiculous and absurd".
Speaking on BBC's Any Questions, the MP ripped into the idea that a blue passport was a sign of British sovereignty.
Theresa May hailed the decision to ditch the European Union burgundy design as an expression of the UK's renewed "sovereignty and independence".
However, Sir Ed argued that the new passport was only a symbol of longer border queues for Britons abroad as well as costlier flights.
Yesterday, the Government unveiled the new passport, which will be issued from 2019 onwards in a return to pre-EU blue.
Sir Ed Davey hit out at Brexiteers boasting that the blue passport announcement was a victory
Sir Ed told the Any Questions audience in Devon: "This is a very bad deal.
"The fact is that this affects our freedoms to move and to work, and the pound down means flights will be more expensive.
"The EU did not demand we change the colour of our passports. It's ridiculous. We could have kept the original blue passports if we wanted to.
"There was no EU law to change to the burgundy, that was in fact our sovereign decision - we could have stayed in the EU and still changed our passport colour."
Theresa May hailed the decision to ditch the European Union burgundy design
There was no EU law to change to the burgundy, that was our sovereign decision
The MP for Kingston and Surbiton added: "Instead, tourists will now get to see the blue passport while stuck in longer queues.
"British business people will have stay in line while their German and French colleagues get waved through.
"I am a proud patriot - but the idea that the colour of your passport is an expression of your nationality is utterly absurd."
The attack on the blue passport comes as EU officials warned that they could mean extra delays and red tape for British travellers amid concerns over post-Brexit travel regimes.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, joined in on bashing the blue passport as he tweeted: "There is no EU legislation dictating passport colour. The UK could have had any passport colour it wanted and stay in the EU."