Scottish banks promise their notes are vegan-friendly

Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank were all asked to make statements about the contents of their notes after vegans throughout Britain reacted angrily yesterday to news that the Bank of England’s new ‘plastic’ £5 note contains animal fat.

Vegetarians were outraged that new BoE fivers were made with tallow, a substance produced from animal fat that is often used in the manufacturing of candles and soap.

Scottish Financial News asked Royal Bank of Scotland about the make-up of their notes and a spokesperson told us: “We can confirm the Royal Bank of Scotland’s new £5 polymer note contains no known animal products”.

A spokesperson for Clydesdale Bank also said: “Our suppliers De La Rue have confirmed that there are no known animal products in its Safeguard® substrate.”

Twitter user Shirley Warnock-Lowe posed the same question to the Bank of Scotland and was given the same response:

https://twitter.com/AskBankOfScot/status/803854288900521985

The Bank of England came under fire yesterday from animal activists and vegans over their new notes which have now been in circulation for three months.

Devon-based model and vegan, Steffi Rox, took to Twitter to express her concerns and asked the Bank of England if it was true.

The bank replied that “there is a trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes”.

https://twitter.com/bankofengland/status/803273440807550976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

An online petition against the note has now been created which states: “The new £5 notes contain animal fat in the form of tallow. This is unacceptable to millions of vegans & vegetarians in the U.K. We demand that you cease to use animal products in the production of currency that we have to use.”

More than 86,000 people have so far signed the petition.