Hello and welcome to the final independent travel podcast of the week with me Simon Calder,

coming to you from a lively, if a little bit damp Manchester, always a joy to be here.

Today I'm very confused about the government. No, not.

Who is Chancellor of the Exchequer today and how long the Prime Minister might limp on?

No, it's about passport validity

and in particular why the government is still

many months after I told them what the rules are for British

people going to the European Union, they are still misrepresenting them.

Quite extraordinary, I think, that a journalist should actually be telling the British government

what the rules are, but that seems to be what I have to do. Let me tell you what the position is.

So, since the UK voted to leave the European Union and the British government negotiated on our behalf,

we have become third country nationals.

That means that instead of the old system where your passport was valid up to and including the day of expiry for travel to Europe,

well these days if you're going to the EU or to the extended Schengen area, which of course

includes Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, not forgetting plucky Liechtenstein, then well you are

in the happy position of being able to go in subject to two conditions.

And let me tell you what they are.

They're quite straightforward, I think.

On the day you intend to leave for the European Union,

your passport must not be more than 10 years old.

On the day you plan to return from the European Union, it must have at least three months remaining.

Those are the two rules. I know they're the two rules, because I spent months talking to the Department for Migration

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