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BISCUIT makers Tunnock’s have dumped their iconic Scottish lion south of the border to rebrand their teacakes as British.

The image of the Lion Rampant is missing on a new advertising campaign, which also describes the marshmallow favourite as “Tunnock’s Great British Teacake”

Adverts have appeared on the London Underground with the slogan and one of the famous foil-wrapped teacakes on a silver cake stand.

Boyd Tunnock, the company’s managing director, admitted to changing the branding for the new campaign.

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Boyd said: “It was the idea of my son-in-law, Fergus Loudon, who is the sales manager and looks after advertising.

“You’ve got the Great British Bake Off and things like that these days.

“We could have said Scottish but you’re then promoting Scotland. We’re British.”

The 82-year-old, who campaigned for a No vote during the referendum, added: “The vote said we’re British. We’re Scottish, however we’re still in Britain.

“Down south, people wouldn’t know it as Scottish. We’ve had caramel wafers advertised on the London Underground but I think that was the first time for teacakes.”

He said there are no immediate plans to brand the teacakes British north of the border.

He added: “We probably wouldn’t. We’d just say teacakes.

“But we could probably call it the Great World Teacake as we sell them abroad as well, in places like Australia and Canada. And we’ve just started to sell them in Germany.”

The biscuit baron, who still turns up at work every day at 6am despite having officially retired at 65, insists he is very proud of the company’s Scottish heritage and added: “I’m still just 100 yards from where my great-grandfather was born.

“He was a coffin maker and knew the power of advertising way back in the 1850s.

“He had an advert as you came into Uddingston that said, ‘Why live a miserable life when for 30 bob you can be buried comfortably?’”

Tunnock’s, who also produce snowballs and caramel logs, have recently enjoyed record profits and are considering adding a fourth production line.

Sales soared in 2014 after giant dancing teacakes were featured in the spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow , viewed by a billion people worldwide.

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Boyd, who is the grandson of founder Thomas Tunnock, said: “The Commonwealth Games did us a good turn because they took our brand.

“They asked if they could use it. We didn’t pay any money but we got a great lift from it. However, if your product is not right, you won’t sell it.”

The family-run firm, who were founded in 1890, have more than 500 members of staff. They produce more than 10million biscuits a week.

Latest accounts show the company recorded a seven per cent increase in sales for the year to February last year and saw profits jump 17 per cent to £7.9million.

Celebrity fans include Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, who said: “You can’t choose between the caramel wafer and the teacake. They’re like Lennon and McCartney – you can’t separate them.”

Howard Donald, from Take That, was presented with a Tunnock’s Teacake birthday cake live on stage in Glasgow last year.

Meanwhile, Amy Macdonald said she would have dressed as a teacake if it had been the only way for her to perform at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.