From the first day of Brexit on March 29, 2019, burgundy passports will still be issued but not longer have the European Union insignia on them.

However, in another five months the current passport manufacturers’ contract will expire and Britain's travel documents will be issued in the“iconic” dark blue colour from September that year.

Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said: “One of the most iconic things about being British is having a British passport.

“Leaving the EU gives us a unique opportunity to restore our national identity and forge a new path for ourselves in the world.

“That is why I am delighted to announce that the British passport will be returning to the iconic blue and gold design after we have left the European Union in 2019.”

He added: "I recognise that for many people who voted in that referendum, they want to see things that are different.

“So from the first day we leave, new passports will look different and within five months they will be very different because they will be dark blue again.”

The blue cover was first used in 1921, but following the common format introduced by the European Economic Community in 1988, burgundy coloured machine-readable passports were issued.

Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell said the burgundy EU passport was a national “humiliation”.

He said: “The restoration of our own British passport is a clear statement to the world that Britain is back.

“Our British identity was slowly but surely being submerged into an artificial European one that most Brits felt increasingly unhappy about.

“The humiliation of having a pink European Union passport will now soon be over and the United Kingdom nationals can once again feel pride and self-confidence in their own nationality when travelling, just as the Swiss and Americans can do.

“National identity matters and there is no better way of demonstrating this today than by bringing back this much-loved national symbol when travelling overseas.”

The inside pages of the passport will be adorned with patriotic background scenes.

It will also be one of the most secure travel documents anywhere in the world due to a number of cutting-edge security features and technologies being built into the design.

There will be a biometric microchip, polycarbonate pages and a double set of photos of the holder so they can be cross-referenced.

They will cost exactly the same as the burgundy model which is £72.50.

Conservative MP for Lichfield in Staffordshire Michael Fabricant said: "Our passports are iconic of our national identity.

“They were going to have to be updated anyway with new security enhancements and to remove ‘Citizen of the European Union’ after Brexit.

“I am delighted that we will be reverting back to our blue colour which was changed when we all became citizens of the EU.

“I have told De La Rue who make our passports when I met them some months ago that I want one as soon it becomes available. I will, of course, pay the standard Passport Office fee.”

Two foreign firms, believed to be German and French, have reportedly made the Home Office's shortlist for the contract.