THE fight by a group of MPs to keep the face of Sir Edward Elgar on the £20 note appears to be over after the governor of the Bank of England said the change has to be made to combat counterfeiters.

Mervyn King, who is also a patron of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, replied to a letter from the city's MP Michael Foster, who expressed concerns over the decision to take Worcestershire's most famous son off the back of the note 150 years after Elgar was born.

West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer also wrote to the governor, while Leominster MP Bill Wiggin, Liberal Democrat MP for Hereford Paul Leetch and Mid-Worcestershire Peter Luff were joined by Peter Ainsworth, the Conservative MP for East Surrey who is also chairman of the Elgar Foundation, in signing a House of Commons motion calling for a delay in the changeover.

In his reply to Mr Foster, Mr King highlighted fears that the composer's portrait had become too easy for crooks to copy so the image on the bank-note had to be changed.

He said: "We have been forced to begin phasing in the change of image after a period of some seven or eight years because Elgar's portrait and other features of the note have become more popular with counterfeiters, and we must act before this reaches undesirable levels."

However, he said that the majority of the £20 notes in circulation next year will still have Elgar on the back while the Bank of England gradually phases in the image of the Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith.

He added that the new notes will also contain several new security features.

He said: "Because of the large volumes of notes involved, this changeover process takes a long time and I do not think it is sensible to delay the start of it."

Mr Foster said: "It was a real honour for the county and the memory of Elgar to be credited and to have been on the back of the £20 note for many years. We acknowledged that there was going to be a point when he was going to be replaced but my concern was with the timing of the changeover coming in the year of the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth."

However, Mr Foster agreed that tackling fraud was important and thought that the appointment of Adam Smith as Elgar's replacement was not that surprising.

He said: "It's not a great surprise an economist is on the back of a note. He's a right-wing economist and for all those people who are into that he's a bit of a hero."