Bank of England’s new 5-pound note features Churchill

The Bank of England has unveiled its first polymer bank note, printed on material manufactured at Wigton.

Former Prime Minister Sir Winston Chuchill will be the face on the new note.

The fiver is printed on polymer, which is more durable than the current cotton paper and practically impossible to ruin, and is 15% smaller than the paper ones.

Current £5 notes feature prison reformer Elizabeth Fry and the announcement that they would be phased out sparked a public outcry over the lack of female figures on banknotes – except for Queen Elizabeth II.

Thousands signed a petition in protest.

Forty-four million new £5notes will come into circulation on September 13.

Unveiling the full new design, Mark Carney paid tribute to the wartime prime minister’s “bulldog spirit” and his part in British history.

Innovia already has the contract for the £10 and is in the process of tendering for the £20 note contract. They will be followed by a 10-pound bill featuring writer Jane Austen next year and a 20-pound note with painter J.M.W. Turner by 2020. The new notes will also have tactile features that will allow the visually impaired to differentiate between them.

The note itself features Sir Winston’s glowering visage in a famous portrait captured in Ottawa by Yousuf Karsh after the photographer is said to have taken his cigar from him.

She added that while the notes are capable of withstanding a cycle in the washing machine, she doesn’t encourage people to try as it will inevitably begin to weaken it.

The technology used in their manufacture also means they can incorporate stronger security features, although the governor stressed the United Kingdom has “a very low rate of counterfeiting”.

The move to plastic is the latest in a long line of changes for banknotes, first issued in return for deposits by the Bank, when it was established in 1694, to raise money for William III’s war against France.

It is thought the new notes, which are recyclable at end-of-life, will last 2.5 times longer than paper notes – approximately five years – generating cost savings over time and meaning fewer need to be printed. The polymer £5 note is 125mm x 65mm (the current paper note is 135mm x 70mm); the new £5 note weighs around 0.7g (the current paper note weighs around 0.9g).