The U.K.’s plan to reintroduce blue passports is a “scam” and the “only thing” that the British government has achieved since the Brexit referendum, leading MEP Manfred Weber said Tuesday.

The leader of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament and a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel was referring to a U.K. plan, announced in December, to replace the country’s burgundy passports with a blue design once it leaves the bloc.

Then-Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis had announced that after Brexit, the U.K. passport would no longer “conform to EU standards,” and its cover would change “from the standard EU burgundy colour to a blue and gold design.”

The color of U.K. passports was elevated by some Leave campaigners as a highly symbolic issue in the referendum campaign, although Remainers pointed out that the color was not dictated by Brussels and that the U.K. had the power to change the color of its passports whenever it wanted to.

Weber ridiculed the move, branding the debate around blue passports a “scam” and “the most drastic example of lack of leadership.”

“You didn’t have to leave the Union for that,” Weber told other MEPs at a plenary debate in Strasbourg. “The blue passport is the only thing they achieved in more than one-and-a-half years of negotiations,” he added, referring to the time elapsed since since the Brexit vote in June 2016.

Guy Verhofstadt, the Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, was equally critical.

The issue of reintroducing the blue passport is “hilarious,” he said. “The red color has never been imposed by Europe.”

Verhofstadt also cited other comments made by government officials in recent months, including prominent Brexiteer and Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s proposal to create further taxes and charges to curb the use of plastics. “Michael Gove doesn’t seem to remember that the ban on plastic bags stems from EU regulation,” Verhofstadt said.

Verhofstadt and Weber also took a hard stance on the EU’s offer to grant the U.K. a two-year transition period. Weber said his group would block any transition “if it’s not good enough.”

Verhofstadt said a transition must be “real.” “We won’t allow any cherry-picking,” he added.

The European Parliament does not have a direct role in the Brexit negotiations. But the assembly must give its consent to the withdrawal deal. It can also issue resolutions assessing the status of negotiations. Verhofstadt said the Parliament, which has already issued three resolutions on Brexit, would vote on another one before the European Council summit in late March.

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