50p Brexit coins to be shredded and melted down as Britain's EU departure is delayed again
3 min read
Commemorative 50p coins minted to mark Brexit on 31 October are being melted down following the latest delay to Britain's departure, the Treasury has admitted.
A spokesperson for the department said a batch of the coins bearing the landmark date would instead be "recycled".
The move comes after Boris Johnson on Monday accepted the EU's offer of a three-month Brexit extension until 31 January.
Chancellor Sajid Javid asked officials earlier this year to examine whether the coins - bearing the phrase "friendship with all nations" - could be put into general circulation in time for the UK's EU departure.
Bloomberg News reports that hundreds of thousands of the seven-sided coins had already been minted.
But a Treasury spokesperson confirmed that the coins would now be recycled, with a new batch planned once Britain leaves the EU.
"We will still produce a coin to mark our departure from the European Union, and this will enter circulation after we have left," they said.
The new coins will reportedly still be inscribed with the phrase "friendship with all nations" and stamped with the Brexit date.
According to Bloomberg, production on the coins was halted last week as EU leaders considered the length of any extension.
The Royal Mint website says that precious metals such as 50p coins are sorted and shredded before being melted down and turned into new products.
The cost of designing and producing the defunct Brexit coins will be met by the Royal Mint from its own revenues with no cost to the taxpayer.
The move comes after previous Treasury plans for around 10,000 commemorative collectors' coins - priced at £10 each - were ditched by Mr Javid's predecessor Philip Hammond when the UK failed to leave the EU on 29 March.
AD BLITZ PAUSED
Meanwhile the Government has also confirmed that it has "paused" its high-profile public campaign aimed at getting businesses and the public prepared for a 31 October departure.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said on Monday that the £100m 'Get Ready for Brexit' advertising blitz would be temporarily halted.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told MPs the campaign had amounted to "£100m of misspent public money".
And he asked: "How many nurses could have been hired, how many parcels could have been funded at food banks, how many social care packages could have been funded for our elderly?"
Meanwhile Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake fumed: "These adverts were the latest example of the Conservative government pouring money down the drain in reckless pursuit of Boris Johnson’s do-or-die 31st October Brexit deadline.
"The money spent on these adverts could have, and should have, gone into our NHS, our schools, and tackling the climate emergency. Instead it was wasted.
"Brexit is a national embarrassment. It has taken far longer and cost far more than anyone ever said it would."
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