“Withdrawing £5 polymer banknotes and stopping production of £10 polymer banknotes would have significant implications for the Bank’s anti-counterfeiting strategy and threaten continuity of supply of banknotes to the public,” a spokesperson said.

“It would carry environmental risks and impose significant financial costs on the Bank, and thereby the taxpayer, and on the cash industry.”

The new £10 polymer note will be issued in September.

After a mighty battle led by Caroline Criado Perez, the note will feature a woman: literary heroine Jane Austen is set to grace our new tenners very soon.

Images: Rex Features and change.org

You have a month to spend your old five pound notes