Most people don't even bother to pick them up when they drop them Anthony Beaumont-Dark, Conservative MP

Until Christmas, the Treasury had argued that the halfpenny was an important factor in the fight against inflation, but now even this defence has been dropped.

Even so, the government fears that retailers will round up any items currently priced with an odd halfpence at the end.

If this happens in all cases, it will have a significant effect on the retail price index.

But supermarkets were quick to reassure customers. Sir John Sainsbury, the chairman of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain, said that though some prices would rise, many more would be rounded down.

"We'll probably have to put the prices up somewhere else," he said, "so shopping basket prices overall will be about the same."

More uncertain will be the fate of the best-known prices ending in that odd half-penny.

Second class stamps - currently 12½p - will probably go up to 13p by the end of the year, while the dog licence is likely to change for the first time in years from 37½p to 38p.

The charity Age Concern believes these small rises will have a disproportionate effect on those who can least afford them.

"For pensioners on a small budget especially those buying small quantities, even a halfpence counts," said Sally Greengross, the charity's deputy director.

"This can only mean further cuts in their living standards."

Elsewhere, though, the demise of the halfpenny goes unmourned. Anthony Beaumont-Dark, Conservative MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, whose question in the Commons prompted the Chancellor to sound the coin's death knell, was happy to see it go.

"Most people don't even bother to pick them up when they drop them," he said. "They are glad to be rid of them."

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