UK to keep animal fat bank notes

British vegetarians will have to carry on using UK bank notes that contain traces of animal fat after the Bank of England decided not to switch to another product following controversy late last year.

The central bank reviewed the make-up of its new plastic notes after thousands of people signed a petition calling on it to end the use of animal-derived products.

But in its latest statement, it said that palm oil was the only alternative to tallow, but that this would cost £16.5m (€18.25m) over 10 years and the Treasury said this wasn’t value for money for taxpayers.