UK residents are facing "rip off prices" for passports because of Brexit, the SNP have said, after research showed they are now some of the most expensive in Europe.
From Thursday, it will cost £94.50 for an adult and £61.50 for a child to get a passport, with prices having soared by 25% in just two years.
Research by the SNP has shown the UK will have one of the highest charges in Europe, with only Switzerland charging more for a passport at £123.
The rise also means the fee for a UK passport is nearly seven times the cost of a UK driving licence renewal, despite both applications taking place online.
In Ireland, an adult’s passport is around £30 cheaper, and a child passport is just £17. A family of four in the UK travelling abroad this summer would therefore spend almost twice as much on passports as a similar family in Ireland.
In Belgium the cost of an adult passport is £54. In Portugal and Spain, an adult passport only costs £26.
Stephen Gethins, the SNP's Europe spokesperson, has claimed the Home Office are "fleecing the public" with these charges.
He said: “With many families preparing for their Easter and summer holidays, they'll now face the rip off cost of travel imposed by Brexit Britain with passport prices soaring to among the highest in Europe.
"The cosy conspiracy of silence on Brexit may work for the Labour Party and the Tories, but it's families in Scotland that are feeling the pinch and are now we paying over the odds for passports thanks to the Home Office fleecing the public.
"The fact is a family in Ireland pays half the price a family in Scotland does to get a set of passports thanks to rip off prices imposed by Brexit Britain HQ. It's time Westminster got its head out of the sand and faced up to the reality that working more closely with our European allies will boost our economy and put pounds in the pockets of Scottish families."
The standard online application made within the UK is set to increase from £88.50 to £94.50.
Postal services for adult passports will rise from £100 to £107, while the premium applications will soar from £207 to £222.
Children’s passport renewals will jump from £57.50 to £61.50 for a standard online application and from £69 to £74 for a postal application.
Applications made from overseas will rise from £112.50 to £120.50 for adult passports, and £77 to £82.50 for children.
According to the UK Government website, the 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.”
At the same time as UK passport costs rising, the UK has also imposed a new levy on all EU tourists.
The Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme requires all EU visitors who do not need a visa to enter the UK to purchase pre-travel authorisation online at a cost of £10, rising to £16 from April 9.
