The Chancellor has said the government will waive the VAT on the sale of the ceramic poppies from the installation at the Tower of London, which are expected to raise £15m for six military charities.

George Osborne will give £1.1m from the Libor fund, raised from fines levied on banks, to cover the cost of VAT on the sale.

There are 888,246 ceramic poppies being planted at the Tower of London to represent military personnel who lost their lives in World War One. They are being sold for £25 each to raise money for Cobseo, Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help for Heroes, the Royal British Legion and SSAFA.

The installation is due to end on 11 November. There have been calls from Boris Johnson and Nick Clegg to keep the installation open to give more people a chance to visit it.

The Sun newspaper has launched an app for people unable to visit the installation that includes the options to donate and take a poppy selfie.

Poppy Bond

The Royal British Legion’s partnership with Coventry Building Society has raised £10m for the charity since 2008, the company said today.

Coventry Building Society makes a donation each year to the charity based on how much its customers have saved in their Poppy accounts.

Today the building society also launched a Centenary Poppy Bond and will give the Royal British Legion a donation of 0.15 per cent of the total balances invested in the bond by the 31 December 2014