HL Deb 08 November 2000 vol 618 cc147-8WA
Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the statement by a Downing Street spokesman that the Prime Minister had "considerable reservations" about the European Union proposal to standardise passports and remove the Royal Coat of Arms from the cover of British passports, whether they will list each of those reservations. [HL4432]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

The Commission has not yet put forward any proposals on passport format, although it announced its intention to do so in September. We have made clear to the Commission that we would not agree to the removal of the Royal Coat of Arms from the cover of the passport. Nor would we agree to any other amendments which were not justified on security grounds.

We will inform Parliament more fully of our reactions to the proposals when they emerge.