Number of UK passports plummeted 2.5 million in two years

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The number of valid UK passports fell by more than 2.5 million during the first two calendar years of the Covid-19 pandemic as people delayed applications, new analysis shows. This is an abrupt change from the period before the pandemic, which had seen passport numbers rise from 50.0 million in December 2017 to 51.5 million two years later. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told the Commons on Wednesday of two constituents who “fear their honeymoon may now be wrecked because their passports haven’t arrived, even though they applied in plenty of time”. She added: “We’ve had cases of people cancelling jobs, parents trying to get holiday for a sick child waiting since January, huge long delays by the Passport Office and by the contractor TNT.” Home Office minister Kevin Foster said anyone heading overseas this summer should submit passport applications as soon as possible.