Brexit minister David Davies suggests he backs blue passport campaign

The Home Secretary also joked she may launch campaign to design a new passport

British passports were blue before machine-readable EU passports were introduced in 1988 (Getty/iStock)

Brexit Secretary David Davis has suggested he backs the campaign to reintroduce the old-style navy blue British passports once the country leaves the European Union.

The colour of UK citizens' travel documents became a subject of debate after the country voted to leave the EU.

"I liked my old blue passport," Mr Davis told reporters after a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

In September, the Home Office said it was looking into alternative designs for the passport after it is no longer required to be burgundy, in line with other EU countries.

All EU nations have burgundy passports, apart from Croatia.

However, in July the Government said there were "no immediate plans" to reintroduce the navy blue passport, although Home Secretary Amber Rudd jokingly suggested she may launch a campaign to design a new passport on Monday.

There have been calls for the old-style passports to make a return, with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage repeatedly brandishing his passport while on the EU referendum campaign trail.

He said: “This should be a British passport; it says ‘European Union’ on it.

“I think to make this country safer, we need to get back British passports, so that we can check anybody else coming into this country.”

The navy blue passports were first introduced in 1921 but were replaced by the burgundy versions in 1988 after a machine-readable version of the passport was first introduced at Glasgow airport.

Brexiteers who want to make a political statement at the airport can buy a navy blue non-EU British passport cover online.