A new £1 coin, billed by the Royal Mint as the "most secure coin in the world", is to be introduced in 2017.

The move comes amid concerns about the 30-year old coin's vulnerability to counterfeiting, with an estimated 45 million forgeries in circulation.

The new coin is based on the design of the old threepenny bit, a 12-sided coin in circulation between 1937 and 1971.

A competition will be held to decide what image to put on the "tails" side of the coin.

In his Budget statement to the Commons, Chancellor George Osborne said: "The prerequisite of sound money is a sound currency."

He said the £1 coin was one of the oldest coins in circulation and had become "increasingly vulnerable to forgery".

"One in 30 pound coins is counterfeit, and that costs businesses and the taxpayer millions each year," Mr Osborne continued.

"So I can announce that we will move to a new, highly secure, £1 coin. It will take three years.

The current £1 coin was introduced in 1983 as part of the phasing-out of the Bank of England £1 note, which was withdrawn five years later.

Of the 1.5 billion estimated to be in circulation, as many as two million counterfeit ones are removed every year.

Adam Lawrence, chief executive of the Royal Mint, which is based in Llantrisant, south Wales, said the process could change the way coins were made in the future.

"It is our aim to identify and produce a pioneering new coin which helps to reduce the opportunities for counterfeiting, helping to boost public confidence in the UK's currency in the process."

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To read the complete article, see:New pound coin designed to combat counterfeiting(www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-26632863)