Home Secretary Amber Rudd has suggested there should be a competition to design a new British passport now the UK is leaving the EU.

British passports are currently red, in tune with the passports of other EU member states. A campaign has been launched, backed by The Sun, to re-introduce blue passports post Brexit.

Speaking on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Monday, Rudd said she did not know if the colour was the “most pressing” issue surrounding passports.

But added: “Perhaps we should have a passport competition, although I don’t want a Boaty McBoatface outcome. We could have select suggestions, I think.”

Quizzed on immigration levels today, Rudd acknowledged she would be “judged” in part by her ability to bring down the number of immigrants during her time in the Home Office.

“Immigration is a good thing,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t control the number of immigrants coming here.”

Rudd replaced May as home secretary when the prime minister took office earlier this summer. Asked if she considered May a “friend”, Rudd said she saw her as “a colleague”.

“I don’t know her well enough to say as a friend. But I do see her as a supportive colleague, yes,” she said.