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Britain has begun issuing passports with the words \u201cEuropean Union\u201d removed from the front cover \u2014 despite Brexit being delayed and its political leaders deadlocked over how to extricate the country from the bloc.\nThe interior ministry said Saturday that a longstanding decision to start introducing passports without reference to the EU had gone ahead from March 30, the day after the original date for Brexit.
\nPrime Minister Theresa May has delayed leaving the bloc after 46 years of membership amid stubborn opposition in parliament to the divorce deal she finalized with European leaders in November.
\nBritain\u2019s interior ministry meanwhile confirmed that some newly issued passports now omit references to the EU on the cover, while others still bear the bloc\u2019s name.
\nThe discrepancy was due to an attempt to save public money by using up \u201cleftover stock,\u201d but both designs would be \u201cequally valid for travel,\u201d they insisted.
\n\u201cPassports that include the words \u2018European Union\u2019 will continue to be issued for a short period,\u201d a spokeswoman said.
\nBritish passports had already become ensnared in the country\u2019s Brexit divisions after the government announced in 2017 it would return to traditional blue passports \u201cto restore national identity.\u201d
\nThe travel documents had dark blue covers from 1921, but Britain switched to burgundy from 1988, in common with other members of the-then European Community.
\nLast year it emerged that Franco-Dutch company Gemalto had won the contract to make the new blue passports, prompting fury from Brexit campaigners and more ridicule from Remainers that a British company was not chosen.
\nThe new production contract is to begin in October 2019, with passports currently being issued in the burgundy color.<\/p>\n