Britain will return to using a blue cover — first adopted in 1921 — after Brexit in 2019

The government’s plan to make British passports blue again after Brexit is at the centre of a fake news row after claims that the redesign would cost £500 million went viral.

The government announced yesterday that from 2019 the burgundy colour would be discarded in favour of the blue that had been used for British passports until 1988.

The change of colour had been seen by some Brexiteers as a symbol of the UK ceding sovereignty to the bloc, and demands for a return to the original navy blue featured heavily in the Leave campaign before the European Union referendum.

Yesterday ministers found themselves fending off claims on social media, fuelled by a celebrity and a shadow cabinet minister, that changing the colour would cost