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The Bank of England is going to keep the new plastic fivers with animal fat traces in them

The Bank of England is going to keep the new plastic fivers with animal fat traces in them
The Bank of England is going to keep the new plastic fivers with animal fat traces in them

Turns out those fatty fivers won’t be getting pulped after all, as many campaigners had hoped.

The Bank of England has said it will keep the new £5 polymer note – which contains traces of tallow, a substance made from animal fat – in circulation.

It will also go ahead with a new £10 polymer note as planned in September, despite widespread objections on ethical and religious grounds.

When the Bank admitted on Twitter late last year that the notes contained tallow, the backlash was sizeable.An online petition, which described the decision as “unacceptable to millions of vegans, vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in the UK”, attracted 134,000 signatures.

But the central bank said it had carefully considered options – such as destroying, reprinting or delaying the issue of the £10 note – but insisted it would be costly and compromise new anti-counterfeit measures.It said: “Weighing the considerations below, the Bank has now concluded that it would be appropriate to keep the £5 polymer note in circulation and to issue the £10 polymer note as planned, in September.”

Doug Maw, who started the petition, said he was “quite angry” and was considering legal action. The decision comes just weeks after the 48-year-old, from Keswick, Cumbria, met representatives at the Bank of England to discuss the issue.He said: “The fact that they’ve decided to go ahead and not withdraw and continue (circulating the notes), means they are forcing people who have religious and ethical objections to use something that’s against their religious beliefs and their ethical beliefs.“I’m most definitely as of now looking at legal advice and we will definitely be bringing a test case against them because I’m pretty sure we will win it.”