No plans to scrap 1p and 2p coins, Downing Street says

The government is not planning to axe 1p and 2p coins, Downing Street has said, after a brief if vehement media campaign against the idea, which had been floated in a Treasury paper released with the spring statement.

The Treasury paper published on Tuesday announced a consultation on cash and digital payments, and noted that many consumers no longer regularly used 1p and 2p coins, as well as the £50 note.

This prompted some newspapers to herald the demise of copper coinage, warning about the associated impact on penny sweets and the cascade machines in seaside amusement arcades. Wednesday’s Daily Mail front page called it “a PR disaster in the making”, the front of the Sun said, “Save our coppers,” and the Daily Mirror lamented: “Pennies dropped.”

Asked about the plans, Theresa May’s spokesman said: “There are no proposals to scrap 1p or 2p coins in the consultation that HMT [Her Majesty’s Treasury] issued yesterday. The call for evidence is simply intended to enable the government to better understand the role of cash and digital payments in the new economy.

Source: theguardian