United Kingdom Passports (Hansard, 7 July 1998)

§ Mr. Howard Flight (Arundel and South Downs)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision with respect to the form and appearance of United Kingdom passports. The Bill would specifically require that the royal coat of arms be retained on the cover of the passports of British citizens. In 1981, an EU directive, which was implemented between 1989 and 1992, abolished the old blue hardback British passport and replaced it with the standard red EU format that retained the royal coat of arms on the front cover. Although there is a requirement that the style be similar and that passports are machine readable, there is no common EU passport agency and the issuing of passports remains the responsibility of individual countries.

The irony is that whereas the old-style passports were extremely difficult to forge, the new-style ones have proven very easy to forge. As a result, on 5 October this year a changed format will be introduced for British passports, much in line with the changes that have been implemented in Germany. The photograph, which is under the cover and under laminate, will be digitally produced and various items of information will appear on another page near the end of the passport. The data page will include digital security features with a bespoke watermark and perforations. The royal exhortation will continue for the time being, but the words "European Community" will change to "European Union".

At this juncture, the forthcoming changes do not introduce a full European Union passport or substitute the royal arms with the EU circle of stars. However, I have confirmed with the EU Commission that the treaty of Amsterdam opens the door to the introduction of EU passports in five years' time by qualified majority vote, or sooner by unanimous agreement. As the House will be aware, the EU symbol will soon be on the front of driving licences and, under the 1981 directive, the European Council can by unanimous vote replace the British coat of arms with the EU symbol. The Amsterdam treaty provides, on the proposal of the Commission and the majority vote of the Council, the ability in five years' time to introduce a common format with the EU circle of stars on the front of the passport and for a full EU passport. The Court of Justice will be responsible for cross-border 864 issues and visas, but no Government in the EU could appeal to the court in this matter. Appeals will relate to individual cases.

We could all wake up in 2003 and find that we have been issued with EU passports with the circle of stars on the cover. [HON. MEMBERS: "Shame."] The House should place a legal barrier in the way of that, and at least maintain the British royal coat of arms on the passports of British citizens. The EU is not a country or a state. Flags and coats of arms reflect shared national historic loyalties and identities. The cancellation of British passports without our citizens being consulted will mark the ending of such enduring loyalties.

The plans for European integration are intended to abolish separate country nationality in the EU, and to create a sense of EU loyalty, to replace the centuries-old symbols of our country and our nation. The EU has become desperate to arrogate to itself the trappings and symbols of the nation state, in a deliberate attempt to manipulate the way in which we think of ourselves. Are we British citizens? Are we subjects of Her Majesty the Queen, or are we EU citizens?

The royal exhortation in our passport, which already looks pretty pathetic as this little red job, states: Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely". [HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear."] Some people may not mind such things passing. There is no legal barrier to that happening in five years' time. To me, it is not just the thin end of the wedge, but an issue on which it is worth drawing a line. I hope that the House will erect a constitutional barrier to prevent such a change without British citizens being consulted.