THE price of a British passport looks set to rise by £12.50 from March 27 for postal applications.

At the moment, an adult passport costs £72.50, regardless of whether you apply online or by post.

But under government plans, which are subject to parliamentary approval, this would rise to £85 for postal applications and by £3 to £75.50 for online applications.

The price of children’s passports will also go up by £12.50 from £46 to £58.50 for postal applications, but will be £49 online.

The Home Office justified the price difference, arguing that postal applications cost more to process than online applications.

The measures were suggested by Government ministers to encourage people to apply online.

They will have to be approved in a vote by MPs in Parliament before coming into force.

Home Office minister Caroline Nokes said the crackdown was to heap the cost of processing more-expensive postal requests onto applicants, rather than taxpayers.

She said: “Our priority is to ensure that UK travellers have a secure, effective, and efficient service from the point of application to the time they pass through the UK border and it is only right that we should look at this whole process when setting our fees.”

The Home Office said the proposals are not related to the reintroduction of blue passports after Brexit, which will not bear a further cost.