Should British passports be made abroad? That will happen from 2019, and many people are not happy about it. Passports are important documents, but their significance has changed over time…

“The irony is unreal.”

Pro-EU campaigner Eloise Todd spoke for many when she heard the news: after Brexit, British passports will probably be made in France. De La Rue, the British firm that currently produces them, reaches the end of its contract in 2019.

The UK government invited companies across Europe to apply for the next contract; Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto offered the lowest price, and won. The government stressed that taxpayers would benefit; the tabloids cried “betrayal”.

There is a bonus irony. In December, the government announced that the new passports will be blue, as they were before they turned burgundy to comply with EU standards. Brexiteers hailed this as a symbolic victory. “The UK passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty,” said Prime Minister Theresa May at the time.

For all their symbolic power, passports as we know them are a fairly recent invention. The idea behind them, however, goes back to the Bible. For centuries, rulers would provide their subjects with documents that basically asked other rulers to guarantee the holder safe passage through their land.

In Britain, such requests were provided until 1794 by the monarch. They were written variously in English, Latin and French, and could be issued to foreigners too. But as few nations required visitors to show a passport, most Britons had no need for one.

Modern booklets, complete with photo and personal details, were only introduced in 1920, when the League of Nations (the forerunner of the United Nations) standardised passports across the world. This is when the UK adopted the blue design, which was described by the League as “perfection itself”. The passports stayed blue until 1988.

Today, passports are an indispensable part of travel. As such, they have also become status symbols. Agencies regularly rank the world’s passports in terms of their “power”. A lot of thought goes into their design: for example, many ex-Soviet nations use red, the colour of communism.

Sacré bleu

“Betrayal” indeed, say some. People have every right to be patriotic, and a passport is the ultimate symbol of their ties to their country. The government understood this when it listened to Brexit voters and restored the old blue design. The fact that France will make British passports is not only bad for British jobs — it is an insult to British pride.

Calm down, reply others. Ultimately, passports are just a wad of paper. There are better ways to show your love for your country, such as rooting for your football team or being a good citizen. If anything, giving the job to France is a shining example of free trade, which was one of the main reasons behind the Brexit vote.