this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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UK Politics

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General Discussion for politics in the UK.
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

What? No pork markets?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 12 hours ago

But at least the NHS is now well funded
/s

[–] [email protected] 14 points 17 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

…..must resist the urge to be that guy who points out the sexually diamorphic skull differences…..

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I kinda like the midnight blue shade they chose tho.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

To be manufactured in France, if memory serves.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

The French company got bought out, they're made in Poland now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

No, the French company manufactures them in Poland.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

It's fair to say a big deal was made over the change in colour back when they announced it. But four / five years on from that it's only ever brought up by Remainers, constantly...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

I'm out of the loop, what is blue passport?

EDIT: got it

[–] [email protected] 14 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Like Felix said, most EU countries have burgundy passports. The UK had burgundy passports while still in the EU.

Parts of the UK right wing press and politics stirred up drama about the colour of UK passports during the Brexit debate bemoaning that the dirty, unelected, bureaucratic EU had forced the beautiful, strong, innocent UK to switch from our nationally loved blue passports to their disgusting red ones when we joined the EU.

What really happened is the EU agreed (with UK input) on a standardised layout and design for passports. They did this to make movement around the EU easier and simpler. These agreed standards were guidelines. Each EU member was free to ignore them if they wished. Most use the standard because it makes their life easier. The UK chose to follow the standard, partially because it was one of the designers of the standard.

Because there was a standard colour (burgundy), this meant there was a higher demand for this colour. Higher demand means passport manufacturers prioritise their production for these demands. Prioritised manufacturing meant this colour and style became cheaper. It's not bespoke, it's the standard.

Because the Conservatives and Reform, etc. (the Brexiters) made such a big deal about the colour of UK passports, when Brexit happened they of course had to follow through on changing the passport colours. The result is that UK passports cost more to manufacture now than they did before, and last I checked were manufactured by a company in France! But the Brexiteers believe they've won against the EU by having blue instead of red passports.

It's so embarrassing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

our nationally loved blue passports their disgusting red ones

I don't know if this is a new low after the straight bananas BS or not

[–] [email protected] 10 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

EU passports are usually burgundy. Old UK passport before it joined the EU was blue (looked more like black to me)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Only the very old ones were blue - only people born before ~1970 (54 years old) would have ever used one as an adult, though people in their late 30s or 40s may have seen someone else using one as recently as 25-30 years ago.

For the majority of Britons, a traditional British passport is burgundy, like it's always been, and the blue ones are new "special racist passports".

[Edit] in answer to the original question, one of the terms of Brexit was "we get our old passport colour back". The mere idea got Daily Mail and Daily Express readers frothing at the cock.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 13 hours ago

Even colour.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Doesn't mean much without knowing if it's increased domestic sales by reducing imports.

The paper also found that since Brexit the EU and UK have diverged in a number of areas ... the UK has tighter rules on animal welfare.

So any deal would potentially mean lowering our animal welfare standards?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

I was told we would chlorinate our chicken after Brexit? That not happening anymore? Well shit...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 14 hours ago

Not necessarily; we could very well keep our high standards which would be fine for exporting to places with less stringent standards, whilst increasing the standards of imported meats if we were importing more from the EU again, as opposed to importing from Asia for meats used in ready meals, takeaways, etc.