the reason that people are not purchacing passports is because to travel within britain some airlines insist that you have a passport and at £77.50 people can go on the bus in much the same time by the time they have to check in 2 hrs proir to a flight that will probably be delayed anywaybring back the annual passport for trips to europe etcyes i agree that a full passport for outside europe but not for a 10 year term reduce the length of a passport and the cost will come down

the reason that people are not purchacing passports is because to travel within britain some airlines insist that you have a passport and at £77.50 people can go on the bus in much the same time by the time they have to check in 2 hrs proir to a flight that will probably be delayed anywaybring back the annual passport for trips to europe etcyes i agree that a full passport for outside europe but not for a 10 year term reduce the length of a passport and the cost will come down

£=euro . who can afford to go abroad when the £ has lost a thrid of its value thank to gordon[ the iron chancellor] dont make me laugh !!

£= euro who can afford to go abroad when the £ has lost a thrid of its value thanks to gordon [ the iron chancellor ]. dont make me laugh !!

I've ditched my British Passport to be honest due to the hassle and cost of getting it re-newed. Luckily I have access to an Irish passport with the added bonus of it being free of charge to re-new once you reach 65 years old......and no chance to date of an identity card from Ireland. Gordon and Company - go swivel!

Some of the drop in passport applications will also be from British pensioners living in Spain. The cost of renewing their passports is about £150 and with the struggle they are having due to the collapse of the £ against the Euro they have to decide on either eating or paying this exorbitant fee to renew their passports. I believe I am right in saying the British passport is the most expensive in Spoain of all the E.U. countries to renew

I am sure that the leap in passport price is realy just subsidising the cost of bringing in ID cards, You may have noticed the new passports have more or less taken on the role of ID cards in the UK till ID cards come in for instance in dealing with official government bodies you have to produce your passport as proof of ID or otherwise you need a good 3 other items they speciffy in its place.

The Passport Service are the worst government department out. Years ago I landed a well paid job in Europe but had to get a passport first. As it was my first passport I had to go through all the new ridiculous procedure producing umpteen documents, testimonies and an interview. The passport Office were a nightmare loosing stuff left right and centre, not replying and getting time estimates massively wrong. Despite their assurances it took months for my passport to arrive so I literally lost thousands, I since found out that of the first 90000 applicants who had to go through this tough procedure all 90000 passed,...pointless or what?

Get real.The main reason for less passpot take up the the outrageous cost of obtaining one. At the outset we were told that there would be free movement across ec countries so we would therefore not need a passport to enter any of OUR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. That soon went by the board when all the money grabbing parasites we call government realised the shortfall in revenue as a result. I suggest we all become immigrants and fly to Heathrow for our £300 hand outand then go and purchase a new passport. Whats good for them is good enough for us few remaining real british citizens. I EXPECT WHEN TONY MAKES IT TO EUROPEAN PRESIDENT HE WILL SORT IT ALL OUT--BLESS HIM.

We should go back to the old system of having a british passport as britain was a lot better off not being part of europe, so why should we have tony blair as president of europe when he was useless as prime minister of the UK.