Do not hammer families with massive passport price hike, SNP tells Starmer

The Prime Minister has been told he must scrap plans to “hammer” families by raising the price for passports to more than £100.

The SNP said Sir Keir Starmer must not allow inflation-busting price rises to go ahead at a time when the cost of living is already growing.

Under the proposals, the application fee for an online passport would rise from £94.50 to £102 for an adult and £61.50 to £66.50 for a child – an increase of 8%.

Adults applying by post would see their fees rise from £107 to £115.50 while the cost for a child would increase from £74 to £80.

The plans will go ahead on April 8 if approved by Parliament and the SNP said it would vote against the proposals.

The Home Office has said the plans would ensure the costs of the system rely less on taxpayers.

Analysis by the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the SNP, shows the cost of a standard UK adult passport by post will have increased by 542% since 1997, from £18 to £115.50.

Meanwhile, the cost of a child’s passport by post will have increased by 627% since 1999 – up from £11 to £80.

In the same period, the analysis shows wages have only increased by 144%.

If prices had instead increased in line with inflation, an adult passport would only cost £33.36 from April and a children’s passport would cost £21.60, according to the analysis.

The SNP said Labour’s price hike would see a family of four charged up to £391 to purchase two adult and two children’s passports – the equivalent of around a whole week’s wages for someone on the minimum wage.

Mr Wishart, the party’s MP for Perth and Kinross-shire, said: “The Labour Party must not hammer families with another massive, inflation-busting hike in passport fees when the cost of living is already soaring on Keir Starmer’s watch.

“Under the Labour Government, energy bills are £500 higher than promised, food and fuel prices have gone through the roof, mortgage rates are rising again, UK unemployment is at a five-year high and hard-pressed families are already struggling to get by.

“Keir Starmer is completely out of touch if he thinks households want him to press ahead with more tone-deaf Labour Party price hikes, which will increase the cost of a family holiday and make it more expensive for Scotland fans to travel to the World Cup this summer.

“The SNP will vote against this unacceptable price hike.

“While the Labour Party is making life even harder for families, the SNP is determined to do everything we can to help, which is why we’ve delivered the strongest cost-of-living support package for households in the UK and will continue to put money back into people’s pockets under John Swinney’s leadership.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Government does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications.

“The fee for a standard online application made within the UK will rise to £102, while the fee for postal applications will rise by the same increase, which remains around 8%.

“The new fees will help the Home Office to continue to move towards a system that meets its costs through those who use it, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation.”