Thousands of 50p coins to commemorate an October 31 Brexit will be shredded and melted down after Boris Johnson broke his pledge to leave by Halloween .
The Royal Mint will take the humiliating step after the PM and EU confirmed yesterday that Britain's departure will be delayed for three months.
It comes weeks after the Treasury boasted it would mint three million special coins containing the October 31 date in the days running up to our departure.
Since production on the coins was "paused" a few days ago, the Treasury has refused to say how many were produced or what the minting cost.
Officials claimed that data was commercially confidential - despite having boasted themselves that three million would be produced by exit day.
Now the Treasury has confirmed these coins would be recycled now that the EU has agreed a Brexit extension with the UK Government.
A HM Treasury Spokesman added: "We will still produce a coin to mark our departure from the European Union, and this will enter circulation after we have left."
The special coins were originally designed to be minted in time for Britain leaving the trading bloc this Friday.
The coins were approved by the Queen and were due to carry the words "Friendship with all nations".
They will still be produced in future and will be stamped with a new departure date - currently set to be January 31 2020.
According to the Royal Mint website, precious metals, such as 50p coins, are sorted and shredded before being melted down. Metals are then purified and solidified before being turned into new products.
The cost of designing and producing the commemorative coins will be met by the Royal Mint out of its own revenues at no cost to the taxpayer.
Chancellor Sajid Javid had asked officials to look at whether it would be possible to produce the coins in volume ready for the UK's scheduled EU leaving date of October 31.
Former chancellor Philip Hammond had planned a limited edition of around 10,000 commemorative coins to be sold to collectors for £10 each.
Mr Javid revised the proposal for the coins to be produced for mass circulation. This was portrayed as a statement of intent that the Treasury was fully behind Brexit.
