Treasury says the penny will NEVER be scrapped – and thanks The Sun for saving beloved coin
Minister Robert Jenrick said: 'The voice of The Sun was clear, and they often have their finger on the nation's pulse'
THE Treasury today credited Sun readers with saving the humble British penny.
After the Chancellor hinted at plans to scrap 1p and 2ps in March’s mini-Budget, The Sun launched a campaign to urge him to think again.
And today Treasury minister Robert Jenrick told The Royal Mint that the penny was safe “for years to come”.
He used a speech to Britain’s ancient coin makers to say: “The voice of The Sun was clear, and they often have their finger on the nation's pulse.”
Every year a Treasury minister takes part in the “Trial of the Pyx” ceremony to test new coins made by the Mint.
Speaking at the 796th trial at Goldsmith’s Hall in Central London, Mr Jenrick said that although card payments now outstrip physical payments “2.7 million people are still reliant on cash.”
And he said notes and coins must “co-exist with cards and other forms of cashless payment for many years to come."
He added therefore “the penny is safe.”
“Safe as long as the British public love it and see in it, more than a unit of currency, but a metaphor for the enduring strength and continuity.”
“Of our currency, of our economy, and of our country."
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Mr Jenrick quipped: “And as we all know - if you look after the penny, the pound will look after itself.”
He went on: "As with the coins we give our children as pocket money with which they make their first economic decisions, a coin is freedom in the palm of a hand."
Channelling a famous Margaret Thatcher speech from 1974, he added: “More than simply economic freedom, the right to keep what you earn, to enjoy property, to regard the state as servant and not master, it is the understanding that from free markets, flow all our other freedoms.”